


Monster

by SooSooDyo (Phinphin)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: A series of increasingly poor decisions, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Ghost Stories, Haunting, Horror AU, M/M, Minor Character Death, Psychological Horror, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Torture, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-18 19:16:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 48,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21281891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phinphin/pseuds/SooSooDyo
Summary: There is a ghost haunting the factory in Gudong village. The students of Gudong accademy spot him at night, eyes hollow and skin pale. There is a bruise around his neck from where he hung himself, and legend say that if you enter his factory, you will never return.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 83





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I've been working on and off on since fall 2016. It's very dear to my heart, and if it hadn't been for sweetest Xia encourging me to tackle it once and for all, I fear it would never get done. I am really happy that I did end up finishing it, but since it's been a wip for so long I fear that it is impossible to avoid the stylistic disconnect that comes from the writing I first did when I started it, and my writing style now. Hopefully, it will be a gruadual shift and not too sudden and I hope you still truly enjoy this fic!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING  
This fic is very dark, and the gore depicted in will be very graphic, so please consider this before reading the fic.

Jongin has always had a thing for self-fulfilling prophecies, always liked them, always felt a pleased chill run down his spine whenever he would notice one. The chill that ran down his spine at this moment was as far from pleased as it could get. Accompanied by the warm splatter of blood and the sound of bones cracking as Jongin met Kyungsoo’s pitch black eyes made him realize just what the meaning behind the words ‘_he’s a monster, a disaster waiting to happen if we don’t control him_’ truly was.

Kyungsoo’s eyes stared into his for a moment longer, the gaze so heavy it seemed to suck away Jongin’s breath, his will to live, his soul, before the boy turned his eyes to the rest of his friends, a gut-wrenching cry erupting from his lips. A moment later the sound of what Jongin had learned to be the noise a skull made when cracked from the inside and out followed and more blood splattered against his cheeks, staining his once white shirt a dark maroon that would truly never wash out.

Jongin closed his eyes, held his breath, and tried not to think of the monster Kyungsoo had become.


	2. Chapter 1

Jongin stared at the large pillars framing the entrance to the school with a tired expression. Behind him the bus he had taken there slowly started rolling, the motor struggling to move the heavy vehicle. He sighed and gripped his bag tighter, slowly starting to walk down to long driveway to the main entrance.

Gudong academy was one of the few boarding schools left in Korea, it’s history almost as old as the sleepy village it was located in. It had been built in the late 1700, inspired by the Georgian style of Europe it stood out as a sore thumb in the otherwise traditional area. The main building was 3 stories high made in brick that had once been red but was now bleached tan by the sun. On each side a 2-storey high wing stretched out, encasing the yard in front of the entrance.

As Jongin passed the corners of the wings he couldn’t help the shudder running down his spine. It was as if the school was drawing him in, the wings like arms closing in around him, trapping him. He could feel the stares of the students in the dorms follow him as he walked towards the entrance, their gazes heavy on his shoulders.

He sped up his steps, the wheels of his bag crunching on the pebble path and jerking violently whenever he hit a rock. With one final harsh tug Jongin pulled it up the 3 steps leading to the heavy oak door and made his way inside.

A large hallway greeted him on the inside, on the end of it lay a large staircase leading to the upper floors and on each side a corridor stretched to the rest of the building. He quickly toed off his shoes and stepped up on the wooden floor, awkwardly looking around himself for someone he could talk to regarding his registration.

“Kim Jongin?” A voice asked from the top of the stairs and Jongin looked up, seeing a smiling student with wavy brown hair hurriedly making his way down the stairs towards Jongin. He was holding a brown envelope in one of his hands and the other was waving happily at him. Jongin timidly waved back.

“Hello, Kim Junmyeon, head of the student council.” Junmyeon introduced himself, bowing quickly.

“Kim Jongin, please take care of me.” Jongin answered, making sure to bow deeper than Junmyeon. When he straightened again Junmyeon still had the exact same smile on his lips, it was only a little creepy.

“Welcome to Gudong Academy. Hope your trip went well?” Junmyeon continued, looking at Jongin with expectant eyes.

“It was okay.” Jongin answered, opting not to tell the still complete stranger about how exhausted he was from the long train ride, not to mention the bumpy bus ride into the school.

“Great! I’ll be showing you to your dorm where you can unpack. This here is your schedule, and map of the school and school grounds. “Junmyeon handed him the brown envelope. It felt heavy in his hands. “It also contains a brief history of the school and a set of rules and regulations. You know, the standard stuff.” Junmyeon continued with the same smile and Jongin nodded slowly, eager to get away to his dorm and spend the rest of his day sleeping.

“Thank you.” He still replied, trying out a smile of his own. Junmyeon nodded happily before telling Jongin to follow him and heading off on quick feet down the corridor to the left. Jongin froze for a second before starting to jog after him, awkwardly carrying his bag so he wouldn’t get any dirt from the wheels on the wooden floors.

While they walked Junmyeon talked about the different rooms they passed and the classes held within there, he also made sure to say hello to the students they passed. Every single one. Jongin was starting to suspect that maybe he took the whole head of the student council thing just a tad bit too seriously.

“Here we go. This is going to be your dorm.” Junmyeon said and pushed the door open to a small common room. Jongin stepped inside hesitantly, trying to ignore the way 4 pairs of eyes turned his way. The room itself was scarcely furnished, an L shaped couch large enough to hold at least 6 people pushed into one of the corners and a tv placed in front of it. On the other end of the room were two tables lined up and a bookshelf placed between them. There was a large fluffy mat under the tables and a set of paintings depicting some sort of sea landscape decorating the walls.

“There is a bathroom by the door there.” Junmyeon pointed towards a door behind the table furthest from them. You’ll be sharing it with the dorm next door, which happens to be mine, and behind that door.” Junmyeon pointed to the door beside the tv. “Is the bedroom. There is a free bed with a wardrobe and nightstand waiting for you in there.” Junmyeon finished and Jongin nodded, still not looking up to meet any of the eyes staring at him.

“Great. Now go get settled. If you ever need anything or any questions just come to me.” Junmyeon gave Jongin’s shoulder a squeeze, as if they had been friends for years, before leaving the room with a small wave to the rest of the people in the room.

“Hello.” Jongin said timidly as the door closed behind him. There were 4 boys in the room outside of him, all of them looking at him expectantly.

“He’s not actually crazy, he just seems that way because of his smile.” One of the boys, a short dainty looking student spoke, smiling up at Jongin with a bright box shaped smile.

“I didn’t- I didn’t think he was crazy.” Jongin defended, shifting a little in place.

“Well that’s a first.” The boy said with a raise of his eyebrows. “I’m Byun Baekhyun by the way. This here is Park Chanyeol.” A tall boy with large ears wiggled his fingers at him. “That right there is Kim Jongdae.” Another bright smile sent Jongin’s way. “And the brat there is Oh Sehun.” Baekhyun finished and the last boy, tall and lanky, sent him a glare.

“Kim Jongin, new here.” Jongin introduced himself, bowing quickly for good measure.

“Don’t be so formal, I hate that shit.” Baekhyun sighed, gesturing for Jongin to straighten once more. Jongin did as he was told, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot before deciding to just take the bull by the horn. With determined steps he took his seat on the couch by the others, making Baekhyun let out a small cheer before him and Chanyeol started firing off question after question on who Jongin was and where he came from.

* * *

During his first week at Gudong Academy Jongin discovered that life at a boarding school wasn’t really that much different from life at any other school. He had expected it to be more like...well Hogwarts to be completely honest. Groups of students in a close bond, studying together in the libraries, spending whole nights talking shit in front of the fireplace in the common room.

Instead the mornings were spent tiredly getting ready for school, just like it had been at home, and then the days in classes, just like at his old school, and then the afternoons doing jack shit and just goofing off with his friends, just like he usually did.

That was the good part of boarding school though, you couldn’t help but become friends with the people you shared a dorm with. Outside of Sehun, Jongdae and Chanyeol in his bedroom, the dorm next to his quickly also became a part of his friendship group, Junmyeon from the first night introducing him to Yixing and Minseok whom they shared a bedroom with.

He quickly found his place in the chaotic group, happy with the fact that he didn’t have to do the awkward step of finding new people to hang with in a school where everyone already knew everyone . He learned that Yixing was almost as new as himself, the boy originally Chinese but having moved to Korea when his father had gotten a job offer. He learned that Minseok and Junmyeon had been on the school the longest, both of them on their last year and having spent their school years at Gudong academy since they were both 13 years old.

He learned that Sehun was as old as himself and the youngest of the group. He learned to recognize Baekhyun, Jongdae and Chanyeol’s loud laughs and Minseok’s light scolding. He learned to secretly enjoy Junmyeon cheesy jokes and appreciate the small gestures of caring Yixing graced them with.

He also learned that Baekhyun and Junmyeon were strong believers of the rumours floating around school.

There were whispers, quiet and barely there but still loud enough to reach his ears within his first week there. There was something wrong with the school, something dark lingering within the old brick walls. A shadow that you could never really shine a light on. It clung to Jongin’s back like a parasite, making him think twice before walking down a deserted corridor or hesitate for a second before pulling away the shower curtain.

“Look man, I don’t use that bathroom anymore.” Chanyeol said one day, shaking his head as he looked up from his phone.

“Oh come on Yeol! You can’t seriously believe there is an actual ghost in there?” Jongdae groaned tiredly, rolling his eyes with such force that his entire head followed.

“Look, there is just something off about that place. It gives me the creeps.” Chanyeol defended and Baekhyun chose that moment to join in, bouncing up from where he had been curled up on the couch.

“I know right! It’s because of the student who killed himself in there. It’s his spirit that lingers. I’ve read that if you die in violent and ways your spirit will stay in the area where you were killed and seek redemption.” Baekhyun informed Chanyeol excitedly and Jongin’s pen stilled its movements.

“You watch too many horror movies.” Jongdae groaned, pushing Baekhyun lightly. The other boy just slapped his hand away as he turned his full attention to Chanyeol.

“I also heard that when the Japanese first invaded, there used to be a village here that were completely levelled with the ground in a huge fire. It’s said that they chose to build the school here in memory of a university that was once here. However, the dead doesn’t like it when the living take claim on their lands and supposedly the school was supposed to be built where the abandoned factory lays today, but because of several unexplained accidents, they chose to move the school to here.” Baekhyun said seriously, nodding slowly at Chanyeol’ widening eyes.

“Man, that’s freaky.”

“And that’s not all. The founder of the school didn’t want anyone to know so he buried the people who died during the construction in the woods, and their souls still haunt the area to seek revenge.” Baekhyun finished and Jongin couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine.

“Where did you hear that?” Jongdae asked, doubt clear in his voice.

“Yifan Hyung told me.” Baekhyun said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Right Junmyeon?”

“Yeah, his parents know someone who’s on the school district. Apparently, it’s a big cover up.” Junmyeon added, leaning forwards on his chair and towards Baekhyun and Chanyeol on the couch. Jongin, looked up, too drawn in by the conversation to be able to focus on his homework.

“Cover up my ass. It’s all a stupid rumour.” Jongdae protested, ignoring Sehun’s quiet giggle of ‘_ass_’. “You guys can’t seriously believe in ghosts.”

“Junmyeon saw one with his own eyes.” Baekhyun insisted, pointing at the other male urgently. “Tell them Junmyeon.”

“Well, it was my third year here and I was walking into town when I saw it.” Junmyeon started and Baekhyun urged him to go on. “It was in the forest, just by the edge. I saw this...boy. He was really pale and really short, and he had these like bruises.” Junmyeon gestured towards his temples. “Like on his head and then around his neck, like he had been hung or something.”

“See! Like the boy in the bathroom!” Baekhyun said excitedly, looking at Jongdae with large eyes.

“The ghost boy who can’t leave the bathroom because of his violent death? Who killed himself by cutting his wrist?” Jongdae asked sceptically and Baekhyun’s smile faltered for a second. “Jongin please tell me you don’t believe them.” Jongdae turned towards the younger and Jongin felt his eyes widen.

“Not...not really.” Jongin said, pulling at his ear awkwardly. He had never really thought about what his opinion on ghosts where. He wouldn’t say he was a believer, but then again there was something about this school that made Jongin think twice about what he really believed.

“See.” Jongdae said pointedly towards Baekhyun who pulled a face. “You don’t believe them either right, Sehun?” Jongdae now turned his eyes towards the youngest who only shrugged.

“Whatever.” Baekhyun huffed. “You can still see blood stains in the bathroom at least so that one is real for real.” He mumbled before getting up from the couch and calling for Yixing in a whiny voice, strutting off towards the bedroom where the poor boy was probably sleeping.

They left the subject after that and Jongin turned back to his homework, the story of the ghost in the woods and the suicides still lingering on his mind.

Three days later Jongin stepped into the bathroom on the third floor, feeling a chill run up his spine despite the warm sun baking the school. His eyes travelled over the floor until they landed on an undefinable brown stain on the floor. His fingers curled around the handle, slowly pushing the door open again. It felt wrong to be in here, like he was intruding on something he wasn’t supposed to witness.

The hinges to the stall at the end of the bathroom suddenly creaked, wooden door slowly starting to open. Jongin was out of there before he even registered moving, his feet sprinting down the corridor at an embarrassing speed. The sound of the groaning hinges seemed to follow him all the way down to the second floor, echoing through the empty halls and clinging to him like cold sweat.

He stopped using that bathroom after that.

* * *

Something about boarding school that was definitely the way Jongin had expected it to be was the amount of homework. Because there was nothing else for the students to do after school except study and hang out the teachers made sure to keep them entertained with book reports, essays and worksheets.

“Hey, hey, Jongin.” Chanyeol whispered loudly and Jongin looked up from his math book. They were seated in the library, books spread out over the table and the sound of pencils scratching against paper surrounding them.

“What?” Jongin leaned forwards, looking at Chanyeol with raised eyebrows.

“Look at Yixing.” Chanyeol answered, nodding his head towards the male in question. Jongin turned his head to the side, seeing Yixing resting his head towards his hand, his eyes shut and his mouth opened and relaxed. Jongin let out a snort, shaking his head before turning back to his math book.

“I’ll bet you 5000 won I can hit his head.” Chanyeol continued before Jongin could even begin to read the next problem. Jongin chuckled once more and shook his head. He just wanted to get these problems over and done with so he could head back to the dorm and watch the next few episodes of the drama he had started last night.

“Come on.” Chanyeol begged quietly, looking up at Jongin with large puppy eyes.

“I need to finish this.” Jongin countered weakly, his unwillingness clear in his voice.

“I’m dying from boredom here dude!” Chanyeol said dramatically. “Come on. I’ll pay you 5000 won to watch me chuck a rubber at Yixing’s head.”

“You will?” Jongin asked and Chanyeol sucked in a breath.

“Yeah, no.” He admitted and Jongin let out a short laugh.

“...Alright fine.” Jongin gave in and Chanyeol’s eyes lit up as the other closed his math book. The older then grabbed his eraser and bit his lip, slowly pulling back his arm before sending the object flying through the ait and right onto Yixing’s forehead.

Yixing jerked in his sleep, head slipping off his hand and flinching back up with enough force to almost send him off his chair. Jongin clasped his hands over his mouth to contain his laugh, turning away as to not be spotted by the senior. Opposite him Chanyeol did the same, bending down into the table as his shoulders shook with quiet giggles.

Yixing’s sleepy eyes widened as he brought his hand up to rub at his forehead. He straightened in his chair before turning to look towards Chanyeol and Jongin’s table, his lips thinning as he took in the two teens trying to hide their laughter.

“Real funny Chanyeol.” Yixing sighed, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Hey, you don’t know it’s me!” Chanyeol protested.

“You expect me to believe Jongin did that?” Yixing shoot back and Jongin let out a loud laugh before once again clasping his hands over his mouth, not wanting to be thrown out of the library.

“True.” Chanyeol agreed before giggling, gesturing for Yixing to join them at their table. The other student did so, grabbing the book splayed out in front of him and throwing it down on the table and sitting down with a huff.

“What’s up?” Jongin asked, straightening out his math book as if he was actually going to do any of the problems within them.

“I’m supposed to do this book report about Greek myths.” Yixing sighed, flipping the pages mindlessly. “And these stories are the weirdest. Like there is this one about this king who’s all paranoid about his son who’s going to kill him, so he sends the son away to die but then when the son grows up, he straight up murders the father and marries his own mother.”

Chanyeol made a noise of disgust, looking at Yixing with horrified eyes. Yixing answered back with a silent nod of agreement.

“Oh, I love that story.” Jongin said happily.

“Dude!” Chanyeol gasped, frowning at the youngest. Jongin felt his cheek heat up, realizing what he had just said.

“No, no not like that. I meant, like, I like how their decision is the reason they end up like they do.” Jongin explained but judging from the looks he was still receiving from the other two he hadn’t really explained it that well.

“I meant. I like self-fulfilling prophecies.” Jongin said with a small sigh. “Like how, in the story, the king gets told that his son will murder him, so he tells his servants to leave the child in the woods so he can die. But then these farmers find the child and raise them as their own. Oedipus, the son, grows up without knowing who he is and one day gets told he will murder his father and marry his mother. So, since he thinks his foster parents are his real parents are his real parents he moves away to the capital and there one night comes into a fight with a guy and murders him and then ends up marrying his wife for some reason I can’t remember. But anyway, that guy is his father the king and the wife is the queen, aka his mother.” Jongin summarizes.

“Oookay...” Chanyeol said slowly, clearly not getting the point Jongin was trying to make. “Still weird dude.”

“No but I like how the reason the prophecies ends up being true is because they were all trying so hard to avoid their fate. If they had never been told of the prophecies they would have never came true.” Jongin explained. “I just think it’s kinda neat.”

“That is true.” Yixing agreed, nodding slowly. “It’s kinda like fate.”

“Yeah!” Jongin agreed, nodding quickly. “I like to think about it like, you shouldn’t worry too much about the decisions you make or try to avoid things too hard because if it’s meant to happen it’s gonna happen anyway.” Jongin continued and Yixing nodded, a slow smile spreading across his lips.

“It’s just some Greek old story, you shouldn’t read too much into it.” Chanyeol sighed, gathering his work sheets together and bending down to pick up his bag.

“It’s still used as a plot device today.” Jongin noted and Chanyeol made a sound of disbelief. “Star wars, Anakin hears that Padme is going to die and does everything in his power to become powerful enough to stop it. Because of his obsession with power he allows the dark side to gain control of him and in the end causes Padme’s death himself. Harry Potter, because Voldemort hears he’s going to be murdered by a child born on Harry’s birthday, so he sets out to murder Harry but fails. Because he does so he gives Harry some of his powers and starts Harry’s want for revenge which ultimately leads to his death.”

“Alright, alright.” Chanyeol laughed, holding up his hands to stop Jongin’s rant. Jongin quieted, feeling a small blush creep up his cheeks. He knew he sometimes got a little too into his interests. “I get your point.”

“I just think they’re neat.” Jongin repeated and Chanyeol giggled, showing his stuff into his bag.

“I’m done for today.” Chanyeol stated, standing up from the table. “You guys gonna join me or are you going to keep chit chatting about Greeks fucking their mothers.” Chanyeol teased and Yixing hurled the eraser from earlier at the other senior, earning him a laugh in return.

“Yeah I’m done for today.” Jongin chuckled, standing up and grabbing his math supplies. Yixing followed his lead, grabbing his book and getting out of his seat.

“I’ll help you with the book report if you want to.” Jongin offered Yixing as they slowly made their way out of the library and the senior sent him a grateful smile in return, agreeing happily. The rest of the walk back to the dorm was spent in silence, Jongin scrolling through his Facebook feed on his phone.

As they walked his ears picked up on the conversation of the students they passed, quiet whispers about the abandoned factory which lay on the other side of the forest and how there was a ghost haunting it, attacking whoever entered the building. He rolled his eyes, growing tired of the obsession the school had with hauntings and the paranormal. He still couldn’t stop the chill that ran down his spine as the girls described the ghost, wide eyes, pale skin, bruises around his neck. It was too close for comfort to Junmyeon’s description.


	3. Chapter 2

That weekend was the first weekend of many that Jongin spent in Gudong village. It was a quaint little village and when Jongin entered it, it felt almost as if time had stopped. It was one of the few places where Jongin had seen anyone walk around in hanbok as their everyday clothes and more the signs around the village used more Hanja than Jongin could even begin to decipher. But then again, he had never really been good at Hanja.

Baekhyun had talked the whole day, sharing stories about memories the group had had in the village over the years and describing which local shops where the best to visit and which grumpy old people to avoid. Jongdae had happily joined in after a while and the talking progressed from being a tour given, to the two of them loudly talking over each other about any and everything they could get their eyes on.

Jongin fell back to Junmyeon and Minseok after that, letting them describe the village in an actually useful way. It had been built sometime after the first Japanese invasion and slowly it had become a place for scholars to gather and share their findings. That’s why the school had been built there but after the huge surge in public education Gudong had lost its status as centre for knowledge and the village had grown sleepy after that.

Jongin kind of preferred it that way, having lived in Seoul most of his life he had grown more than used to the bustle of big city life and liked the quiet atmosphere that could only come with a town hidden away and almost forgotten.

“So how did you end up here?” Sehun asked as they were making their way back, biting into a red bean jelly before holding it out to Junmyeon who leaned over at took a bite.

Jongin made a small noise of confusion, looking over at Sehun who was slowly chewing while looking at him.

“Like, at the school. You said you hadn’t boarded before.” Sehun clarified and Jongin nodded, looking back at the road.

“It’s kinda complicated.” Jongin said with a shrug, reaching out a hand for Sehun to hand over the red bean jelly. The youngest looked at his outreached hand before taking another bite of the jelly.

“We have time.” Sehun said slowly and Junmyeon let out a small laugh at the annoyed expression Jongin sent the youngest.

“Alright, alright just gimme.” Jongin sighed and snatched the jelly out of Sehun’s hand the moment it was aimed at his direction.

  
“My brother used to be a real like...like he would skip class and not do his homework and get in trouble like every week.” Jongin started, taking a bite out of the jelly and handing it back to Sehun.

“You have a brother?” Minseok asked.

“Yeah, Jonghyuk Hyung. He’s in university right now.” Jongin nodded. “But anyhow he used to be like really lazy and really angry and stuff. So, my parents decided to send him to boarding-school to ‘straighten him out’. And it worked. Jonghyuk Hyung started getting good grades and stopped getting into fights and all of that. So, like at the end of last semester they told me they’ll be sending me to boarding-school because it was so rewarding for Jonghyuk Hyung. But I’ve never done any of the things he did so I think it was just because they can’t be bothered to deal with a kid at home.” Jongin finished with a sigh, shrugging his shoulders and pretending it didn’t bother him.

“Ooooh, that’s rough.” Chanyeol said from behind Jongin, his arms slinging around the younger’s shoulders. “My parents sent me here because they’re lazy asses too. Seems to be a common theme.” He joked and Jongin felt himself smile, glad that he wasn’t alone in the situation.

“Mr president of the student council here, though, come from a long line of boarding school students, right Hyung?” Chanyeol continued, looking over at Junmyeon with a broad smile.

“Yupp.” Junmyeon nodded, smiling up at Jongin. “At least since the 1700’s. I have this picture of my grandpa wearing a gat and the whole uniform and everything.”

“Yeah he’s loaded.” Chanyeol interrupted. “Like I’m sure he’s related to some president or something.” Chanyeol mused and Junmyeon let out an awkward laugh, shaking his head and telling Chanyeol to stop. Jongin laughed, looking over at Chanyeol who gave him a look that only made him laugh more.

“Look, look look.” Baekhyun suddenly ran up to them, grabbing Chanyeol’s arm and pointing excitedly towards something in the distance. Jongin looked over, spotting a dark roof reaching over the forest line.

“What is it?” Minseok asked, jumping slightly to see the building better.

“It’s the abandoned factory.” Baekhyun said dramatically, looking over at the rest of the group with wide eyes.

“And?” Jongin asked, stretching up to get a better look. All he could get his eyes on were concrete walls and what looked like a busted window.

“You know they say it’s haunted right.” Baekhyun said. “I heard some girls in Chanyeol’s year talk about how things moved on their own and that sometimes, at night, you can hear screaming coming from inside. It’s from the spirits of the villagers who died when the Japanese first invaded. It’s said that they’re out for revenge.” Baekhyun’s eyes widened, eyes flicking towards the building for a short moment.

“Oh my god won’t you ever shut up about those damn ghosts.” Jongdae called from behind them in a tired voice. “You’re worse than my grandmother.”

“You are a little curious though, admit it.” Baekhyun teased and Jongdae rolled his eyes, sighing deeply.

“I bet your ass every single won I own that if we walked up there right at this moment, we would find nothing but dust and spiders.” Jongdae challenged and Baekhyun scoffed, turning around to look at Jongdae. Jongin turned too, curious to see where the conversation was going.

“To scared to answer?” Jongdae asked. “Your imaginary ghosts too scary for you huh?” He continued, bringing his hands up to his cheeks and pretending to cry.

“Am not.” Baekhyun spat back, crossing his arms defiantly.

“The bet’s on then?” Jongdae asked, smirking confidently.

“Oh yeah it is.” Baekhyun countered with a smirk of his own.

“You in on this Jonginnie?” Jongdae asked and Jongin let out a laugh, almost shaking his head before deciding that yeah, it could be worth the trek just to get Baekhyun to shut up for once.

“Of course.” He answered, giggling at Baekhyun’s offended look.

“Let’s go then.” Jongdae grabbed Baekhyun’s arm, almost tearing him off Chanyeol who had been watching the exchange with interested eyes.

“Wait!” Baekhyun called, pulling his arm free.

“You too scared Mr scardy pants?” Jongdae pouted. Junmyeon quietly told him to stop.

“No.” Baekhyun snorted. “It’s just that we can’t go now. Everybody knows that ghosts are more active at night. If we go now of course we’re not going to see one.” He stated and Jongin felt his eyes widen, suddenly not too sure about his previous agreement.

“What are you suggesting?” Jongdae asked, confident smile still in place.

“We go at night.” Baekhyun paused for a moment. “All of us.”

“Hey! Don’t drag me into this.” Junmyeon called out, turning towards Baekhyun with a glare.

“Sure.” Jongdae agreed. “You’re still down right, Jongin?” He asked, turning towards Jongin who felt himself pale a little at the thought of visiting such a place at night. Ghost or not it was a stupid idea.

“Yeah.” He nodded anyway and Jongdae smiled triumphantly at Baekhyun.

* * *

Three days later the group of eight were trekking through the forest, the sun slowly setting and bathing the entire forest floor in a warm orange shade. The factory was a short 10-minute walk away, its black roof visible over the treetops.

Jongin shrugged his shoulders up, the chill of the night held out by his thick jacket. Next to him walked Sehun and Yixing, the pair quietly talking about something Sehun had found on twitter. Baekhyun and Jongdae was leading the way, a flashlight held in each of their hands. Behind them walked Minseok, Chanyeol and Junmyeon who, not for the first time that night, insisted that they should all turn back and that this was a stupid idea.

“You don’t have to join Hyung.” Baekhyun called behind himself, not even turning around to look at the student in question.

“I have to make sure none of you end up hurt, you assholes.” Junmyeon called back and Yixing let out a low chuckle.

“Look you guys seriously don’t expect us to run into a ghost, right?” Sehun called out.

“Yes.”

“No.”

Jongdae and Baekhyun replied at the same time, looking over at each other with a glare.

“Look, don’t worry we’re just going to do a quick walk around, find nothing and then head back.” Jongdae replied light-heartedly, turning on his flashlight and aiming it towards the small forest path they were following.

Sehun made a small noise, not sounding too convinced by Jongdae’s confidence.

The rest of the trek was made in silence, Jongin feeling his nerves start to act up as the darkness descended around them. The warm light of the setting sun was slowly replaced by an icy blue glow from the moon and soon the doors of the factory loomed high above them.

_‘No entry’_ was posted over the door but it was clear from the tracks made in the gravel in front of the entrance that it had been opened recently. Yixing frowned and pointed down at it but Jongin quickly caught his hand before he could make a noise. They had all seen it judging from the nervous flickering of eyes around him.

“Go on, open it.” Baekhyun ordered, turning to Jongdae who quickly stepped forwards and pulled the door open. His flashlight lit up a large factory floor, nothing left but a few crates and barrels stacked to the side.

One by one they slowly entered, looking around themselves. Despite being empty Jongin couldn’t help but feel like the area was hiding something from him, concealed in the dark corners their flashlights couldn’t seem to light up.

“What was that?” Minseok gasped, jumping to the side and grabbing Chanyeol who violently flinched. Jongdae let out a laugh, aiming his flashlight towards the pair clinging to each other.

“Chill out. It’s nothing.” He said before turning back round, shining his flashlight towards the place where Minseok was looking towards. His pillar of light lit up one of the many lights hanging from the ceiling. On top of it stood three coffee cups, looking acutely out of place on the dusty metal surface.

“How did they get up there?” Jongin asked, shrugging his shoulders up towards his ears as if to protect himself.

“The Ghoooooost.” Jongdae sang in a low voice, pretending to give a small scream of fright before bursting out laughing. Jongin let out a nervous chuckle, tearing his eyes away from the coffee cups.

“No but seriously?” Sehun asked, still looking towards the lamp despite Jongdae’s light having left it.

“Probably some students who’s had the same idea as us.” Jongdae answered, brushing away the topic and moving deeper into the factory hall.

On each side of the area were two ledges leading to an upper floor, a staircase at each end of the large hall. They floor was covered in dust and dirt from the outside and Jongin tried not to think too much of how there were certainly too many foot prints there to just be from the eight of them, or even just a few students visiting.

“Let’s go inside.” Jongdae said after a minute, shining his flashlight towards a pair of doors at the end of the hall. Neither of the group said anything and Jongdae took this as an agreement, moving towards the double doors and pushing one of them open.

They all moved inside, cautiously looking around themselves as they slowly made their way down the hallway. Lining the side of the hallway were various doors leading into small offices, control rooms and once a coffee room with another group of coffee cups lined up on various furniture.

Carefully they all made their way deeper into the factory, shoulders slowly going down and conversation starting up as the moon continued with its uneventful trek across the sky. The factory couldn’t have been abandoned for too long, the technology they found still left behind spoke of the early 2000. There was also a lot less destruction inside than what Jongin had expected. He had kind of imagined there to be papers scattered about, belongings littered across the floors as if the workers had had to leave in a rush. Instead the rooms all looked like they had been properly cleaned out before left to whomever happened to wander in there. Outside from a random chair or two and the coffee cups they found nothing to speak anything of what could have happened inside of there.

“Well, this was disappointing.” Baekhyun sighed as they pushed the door open to yet another office, his jumpy behaviour replaced by his usual cocky attitude.

“Told you there was no such thing as ghosts.” Jongdae said, stepping inside and shining his flashlight around the area. This office, too, was empty, a thick layer of dust covering the one desk inside.

“Yeah whatever. Let’s explore more.” Baekhyun said and continued down the corridor they were in. “This is interesting. Like a treasure hunt.” He said excitedly and Jongin chuckle, following the short male along with the others.

“There has to be another factory floor or something around here, right?” Minseok asked, looking around himself. Junmyeon made a noise of agreement. “We should go find it, see if we can figure out what they were making?”

“I don’t think they’ve left any machines or anything.” Yixing said slowly. “They’ve cleaned so well.”

  
“Yeah it’s almost boring.” Chanyeol agreed, kicking at a leaf that had somehow made i’s way that far into the factory.

“You were expecting to see a ghost, weren’t you?” Jongdae asked, turning around to send Chanyeol a teasing smile.

  
“Well something at least! This is about as haunted as the school library.” Chanyeol protested and Jongdae let out a loud laugh, turning back around and aiming his flashlight towards another one of the many doors lining the corridor.

“I’m kinda glad we haven’t found anything.” Junmyeon said and Minseok nodded next to him, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm. Next to them Sehun had pulled out his phone, scrolling down whatever social media feed deemed more interesting than an abandoned factory. Jongin frowned at him for a moment, feeling a small smile grow on his lips.

“You have a signal in here?” He asked.

“Hey guys, I think I might have found something!” Jongdae suddenly called behind them and the group turned around, seeing Jongdae having stopped in front of one of the many doors. “It says ‘test room’.” He said and gestured towards the sign. “Wanna look inside?”

“Hell yeah.” Baekhyun said excitedly, starting to walk towards the door and Jongin found himself hurrying over, excited to see what could be hidden behind such a door.

Jongdae pushed the door open and stepped inside, Jongin and Baekhyun following close after. The flashlights roamed around the room, lighting up several wall mounted bookcases and a row of filing cabinets. Jongin quickly moved over and pulled one of them open, disappointed to see it empty inside.

  
“Empty this too.” He commented towards the rest of the group.

“At least it’s different.” Sehun mumbled, peering into trash can that had been left by one of the desks.

“I wonder what they tested here?” Chanyeol asked, slowly turning in the middle of the room. “Hey look.” He pointed towards the wall opposite the door. “Why would they have a window in here?”

Baekhyun quickly pointed his flashlight towards the window, illuminating it and a door next to it.

“They probably performed the tests inside of there and made notes and stuff over here.” Junmyeon commented, letting his fingers trail over one of the desks. They came away covered in years of dust.

“Let’s take a look.” Jongin said, moving towards the door and pushing it open. Jongdae quickly joined him, illuminating the dark room. Inside were another set of desks and more heavy metal bookcases. Here some things had been left though.

“Wooah, look at this.” Jongin said, reaching out to grab one of the many bottles standing on a table next to the window. “It’s empty.” He pouted. At least it was a find.

“Look at this table.” Yixing said from behind them, pointing towards the table pushed towards one of the corners. “It has like...straps or something on it.”

Both Baekhyun’s and Jongdae’s flashlights aimed towards the corner. A chill ran down Jongin’s spine and he realized what it was. A gurney with straps to trap someone’s ankles, wrists, chest, and head. There old leather was discoloured in several places, a dark maroon colour and made something turn inside Jongin’s stomach.

“Oh.” Chanyeol breathed and Jongin nodded, starting to feel that it was probably time to turn back home.

A shrill scream rang out in the room and Jongin whipped around to see Sehun jumping, Junmyeon crouched behind him and laughing happily.

“Hyung what the fuck!” Sehun called, quickly slapping Junmyeon’s head before letting out a small giggle of his own.

“Sorry. Sorry I had to.” Junmyeon giggled and Jongin let out a nervous chuckle.

“Okay seriously dude do not do that again.” Baekhyun said and Junmyeon agreed through giggles, nodding his head before straightening back up.

“Why would they even have a gurney in here?” Jongdae asked as he turned back towards the corner.

  
“I don’t even wanna know.” Chanyeol said, flinching when the bottles on the table clinked together. “Hey careful.” He barked.

“No one touched it.” Junmyeon said, staring towards the table with the bottles. True to his words there was no one next to it.

“It’s not funny.” Sehun huffed, pushing his hands deep in his pockets as he glared at Junmyeon. Junmyeon only rolled his eyes and walked away from his spot by the door and towards one of the book cases where a lone book still lay.

“It looks like they were doing something with medicine. That would explain the gurney.” He said, holding up the old book. Baekhyun moved up to him, aiming the flashlight so they could properly read the title.

The rest of the group huddled up behind them, watching them turn the old book over. It was about the practice of developing vaccines and Junmyeon quietly flipped it open, revealing a page with an image of a leg with what looked like an extreme case of chickenpox.

“Freaky.” Jongdae mumbled. The group nodded and Jongin squinted to better see the image. It looked really painful. He was glad he had gotten his when he was young. He didn’t even remember having them.

Something clinked as it landed on the concrete floor and the group froze, turning around to look towards where the sound had come from. A lone glass bottle rolled on the floor, making a small circle.

“Okay that’s seriously not funny Hyung.” Sehun commented.

“I didn’t do anything.” Junmyeon snapped, shutting the book with a low thud.

“Then who did?” Yixing asked carefully.

“I’d rather not know.” Chanyeol whispered and Jongin nodded. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Yeah.”

A loud bang rang through the room and Jongin felt a gust of air blow at his bangs. With a sinking feeling he aimed his eyes towards the door, finding it closed. Baekhyun quickly rushed forwards, grabbing the handle and furiously pulling at it. The door wouldn’t budge an inch.

“What did you do!” He roared, turning towards Junmyeon who was still standing by the bookcase.

“Nothing!” Junmyeon spat back, looking at the door with wide eyes.

“Just open it!” Sehun growled, stepping forwards to pull at the door with the same result.

“Is it locked?” Minseok asked, his voice weak.

“I don’t know.” Sehun replied, stepping back to kick at the door. A metallic bang rang out in the room, but the door stayed as unmoving as before, barely even shaking from the force of the kick. Sehun lifted his leg once more, repeating the action.

Jongin felt something grab his wrist and twitched, turning his head to look at Yixing who was staring at something with wide eyes. Jongin slowly followed his gaze, eyes landing on the window connecting the room to the previous one. Something glinted behind the glass, a shape slowly starting to take form. With shaking hands Jongin grabbed Jongdae’s flashlight, lifting it towards the window.

His blood ran cold.

Staring at them from the other side of the window was a pale face with large eyes. The figure had one hand pressed against the glass, its palm reaching out as if to grab one of them. Around its neck sat a circle of dark purple bruises.

“It’s him.” Junmyeon whispered and Sehun stopped his kicking, turning towards the window before letting out a strangled sound and scrambling backwards.

“Fuck!” He called.

“Let’s get out of here.” Minseok called, turning away from the window and sprinting over to the gurney. Baekhyun’s flashlight followed him, revealing another door. Minseok grabbed the handle and pulled. “Fucking help me!” He called and Jongin jumped into action, grabbing the handle and pulling. The door wouldn’t budge even an inch.

Behind them the table with the bottles slowly started vibrating, the clink of bottles filling the room and drowning out their panicked calls. Jongdae still had his flashlight aimed towards the figure, to afraid of what it would mean if they let it out of their sight.

Jongin looked over his shoulder, locking eyes with the figure for a short moment before the large eyes suddenly fixed on Junmyeon. A loud groan echoed through the room and suddenly the large metal bookcase by Junmyeon’s side started moving, slowly tilting forwards.

“MOVE!” Jongin called, watching as Baekhyun pulled Junmyeon out of the way a second before the heavy bookcase would have crushed him.

“It’s trying to kill us!” Chanyeol cried, joining Jongin and Minseok by the door. Jongin could feel tears prickle in the corners of his eyes, panic like a wrench around his chest and his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

“Look, look!” Baekhyun called, pointing his flashlight towards the wall. An open doorway was illuminated by his flashlight and Jongin quickly tore himself away from the door, sprinting towards the newly found exit instead. He didn’t care where it led, as long as it led out of here he would be happy.

Jongdae joined him, reaching the opening before him and disappearing inside it. Once Jongin had turned the corner he saw a long hallway illuminated by Jongdae’s shaking flashlight. The other was running in front of him as if his life depended on it and Jongin was sure that it indeed did.

He could hear the others follow behind him, the light of Baekhyun’s flashlight suddenly illuminating more of the hallway. Jongin let out a desperate cry, his lungs burning with the effort of running.

“Here!” Jongdae called, shining his light towards an open door in front of them. A second after the door slammed shut and the boy let out panicked cry, continuing his sprint but turning with the corridor, not even stopping to see if the door would open.

They all knew it wouldn’t.

The sound of more doors slamming shut followed them, echoing through the building like the sound of gunshots. Chanyeol suddenly passed him and Jongin let out a whimper, not daring to look behind himself to see if the others were still keeping up.

He turned another corner, seeing another long corridor stretch out in front of him and at the end of it an open set of double doors. Another door slammed shut next to him and Jongin let out a scream, the light of Baekhyun’s flashlight illuminating the sprinting figures of Chanyeol and Jongdae in front of him. Chanyeol had overtaken Jongdae too, his long legs hitting the floor with heavy thuds as he sprinted towards their freedom.

Suddenly a set of large eyes appeared from a side door, the boy from before moving out into the corridor. Jongin felt himself slow down for a moment and Minseok shot past him, screaming as he noticed the figure from before.

Chanyeol didn’t slow down though. With a roar he bent down and slammed shoulder first into the figure, sending it flying towards the side. Jongin sped up again, watching as Chanyeol made his way through the double doors followed by Jongdae.

A whimper followed him as he passed the figure but Jongin didn’t care about anything other than getting out of there. As he burst through the double doors, he felt a glimmer of hope light up in his chest, the large factory hall they had entered from spreading out in front of him and the doors towards the outside as wide open as they had left them.

Ten seconds later the cold night air hit his face and Jongin felt his burning lungs fill with oxygen. He gritted his teeth and continued his sprint, eyes trained on the figure of Minseok in front of him as they sprinted back towards the school.

They didn’t stop until they were back inside their dorm, Jongin collapsing down on the floor and Baekhyun hurling into one of the trash cans.

“What the fuck was that?” Minseok wheezed, leaning towards the benches by the side of their dorm.

“I don’t know man. I, fuck. I don’t know.” Jongdae replied, his voice thick with tears. Jongin felt his own chest jump, his whole body shaking with exhaustion and adrenaline. Whatever it had been, Jongin hoped he would never see it again.


	4. Chapter 3

The thought of what had happened in the factory followed Jongin through the rest of the week, chills running up his spine whenever his mind would pull forth the images of those large eyes. He once thought about what could have happened if they hadn’t made it out of there but quickly decided to force the subject out of his mind, his trembling hands and constricted chest too much of a reminder of how he had felt inside those factory walls.

He wasn’t the only one who was affected by the whole thing, Baekhyun and Jongdae were unusually quiet, a tense look in their eyes never quite leaving. Sehun on the other hand won’t stop talking about it, wondering if anyone knows anything more about who exactly it was that they saw. No matter how much Chanyeol told him to let the subject go he would still ask, making the back of Jongin’s neck crawl with the feeling of being watched. It got to the point where Junmyeon snapped at him to shut up, the otherwise ever so patient student snapping like a twig under the memories of almost being crushed by the bookcase.

As the weekend rolled around again Jongin found that people were finally starting to return to normal, the tenseness in their jaws relaxing and Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s bickering returning with full force. Jongin tried to join in, tried to let the feeling over something lingering behind him, ready to attack, to leave but all he managed to do was force himself to smile.

Yixing noticed, asking him quietly what it was. Jongin found that he couldn’t do anything but shrug though.

“There is something not right about what happened.” He had said and Yixing had told him not to think about it, because what had happened there hadn’t been human. It couldn’t have been real.

Except it was.

Maybe that’s what made him lay awake in bed for hours on end, his mind recounting every single detail from that night, from the footprints and the coffee cups to the way the figure who had easily been able to trap them inside that long corridor got tackled to the floor, undoubtedly solid and human. Except it couldn’t be human. How else could it have moved the doors? How else could it have made the glass bottles rattle and force a wall mounted bookcase down on top of another student.

Another week passed, another chilling sense of something lurking beneath the waters, a revelation waiting to happen. By the time Saturday morning dawned Jongin was so exhausted he slept long enough to miss breakfast.

“Let’s visit town.” Jongdae had suggested and Jongin agreed, happy to get out of the school with its long corridors and pale walls that were all too similar. Only Minseok and Sehun joined them this time, both of them cheerfully talking about whatever and whenever while him and Jongdae quietly walked down the long road leading to the small town.

The factory loomed over them in the distance, a quiet reminder of that night.

Once they had reached Gudong village and its charm once again took over, Jongin found himself distracted by the many signs and the picturesque little shops. They decided to grab coffee in one of the small coffee shops and spent an hour just talking shit about teachers and students in the school.

Once they left the café the clock was almost 4 in the afternoon and the people in the streets were starting to thin out. The four of them slowly wandered down the main street, kicking a pebble between themselves and teasingly shoving each other.

“Do you guys...” Jongin started once Sehun kicked their pebble into the sewers and Jongdae pretended to dropkick him.

“Yeah.” Minseok prompted softly, looking up at him with attentive eyes.

“Do you, like what do you think we saw?” He finished the question, letting the last syllable trail off. He didn’t meet Minseok eyes, feeling the familiar sense of dread start to creep up his spine.

“Dude I don’t even want to think about it.” Jongdae said quickly, shuddering before shaking his head.

“Maybe it was just a hallucination? From some old medicines or whatever still in the building?” Minseok suggested but he sounds anything but convinced by his idea.

“All of us having the same hallucination?” Sehun said sceptically and Jongin agreed with a small hum. There was something that weren’t adding up like it should.

“Look, let’s just forget that we ever visited the factory.” Jongdae snapped, clearly marking an end to the situation.

“You boys visited the factory?” A new voice said from behind them and Jongin turned around slowly, seeing a woman in her early 50’s stand outside of a small shop. “You’re lucky you made it back alive.”

“Yeah.” Jongin agreed before he could stop himself. This seemed to peak the woman’s attention, her eyes suddenly twinkling with interest.

“What happened?” She asked and the four boys hesitantly exchanged looks between themselves.

“We...we kind of saw something, someone.” Sehun answered, shrugging his shoulders and pushing his hands deep into his pockets. Jongin nodded, staring intently at the ground.

“You did?” The woman asked, her voice doubtful.

“Yeah. It...it looked like a young boy.” Minseok affirmed. “He was pale as a ghost though, and he looked like he had...like had been hung or something.” He added and Jongin nodded again, realizing what the ring of bruises around the figure’s neck had reminded him of.

“Oh, oh that is interesting.” The woman said, mostly to herself as she crossed her arms.

“How come?” Jongdae asked.

“Well you see. The factories over there.” She jerked her head towards the location of the building. “Was built sometime in the 70’s, built to produce medicine and bandages and stuff like that. There is a research lab connected to the structure where they would test their new drugs and products. It was going really well for them for a while...” She trailed off, a small smile playing on her lips.

“I used to work there you see.” She continued. “And things went really well until the early 2000’s. We were forced out of business by the bigger companies and the factory closed down. It’s been abandoned ever since.” She finished and Jongin felt a frown grow on his face. Was that really it? Had she stopped them just to tell them that? Any old google search could have told them that.

Just as he opened his mouth to ask her why she reacted to them talking about the figure she started speaking again.

“However. There is this rumour going around. That there is actually another reason as to why the factory was closed down. You see...when testing drugs there are quite a lot of steps that has to be done before it’s deemed safe to test the drug on humans.” She paused, drawing a heavy breath. “Supposedly the factory didn’t follow those rules. The government found out they had been experimenting on humans for years, almost since the factory opened and staged a buyout by the bigger companies as a cover up.” She turned her eyes to the group of four. “It’s said that some of the experiments still linger in the factory, taking whomever they can get their hands on.”

A chill ran down Jongin’s spine, making his shoulders lock and his chest feel tight. Had what they had seen really been the aftermath of human experimentation? He felt sick just at the thought.

“Do you think...” Sehun asked shakily, leaving the question unsaid. The woman nodded, looking at them with serious eyes.

“You boys do best to stay away from that place.” She turned back around, closing the door behind her and leaving the implication of her words hanging over them like a dark cloud.

“Let’s head back to the dorms.” Minseok said and Jongdae hurriedly nodded, walking away before Jongin has time to register what has been said.

Once they returned back to the dorms Sehun immediately started retelling the story the woman had told them and Jongin hid away in the bedroom, mind still reeling from the information they had received. He wasn’t usually one to believe rumours but there was something about this whole situation that was telling him there was more going on behind the scenes than he first thought.

  
He pulled out his phone, opening the search engine and letting his fingers hover over the letters. After a moment of hesitation, he entered the words _Gudong factory_ and pressed search. A long list of results popped up, news articles about the factory closing, the many people losing their jobs and the effect it had had on the area. Jongin opened a few at random, scanning through the articles for anything related to what the woman had told them.

Nothing.

  
He went further into the search results, making sure to read each and every article carefully but when he stumbled on the third one listing the long-lasting effects the factory had had on the local wildlife He gave up.

_Gudong Human experimentation_

He entered next, and this time around the search result is a mix of blogs, conspiracy theories and what looks like bad horror movies. Jongin sighed, scrolling down lazily in search for something worthwhile.

Just as he was about to give up and push the whole night at the factory out of his memory his eyes landed on a news article about a trial. He clicked on it, watching a page of text with a picture of the abandoned factory at the top load slowly.

It was an article written about a researcher working to develop new antibiotics accused and put to trial for unethical work methods. The article didn’t specifically mention human experimentation but sentences such as _work ethics directly harming other human lives_ and _his research is believed to have caused permanent, sometimes even lethal, injuries to test subjects_ made it clear what was actually going on.

Jongin felt something stab at his heart, a story about a family a village over getting their daughter kidnapped and her belongings found in the factory making him wonder over what they had actually witnessed in the factory.

He exited out of his browser, letting his phone rest against his chest for a long moment as he thought over the information and replayed the night at the factory. It didn't’ take a genius to realize that everything was connected but Jongin couldn’t shake the feeling that whomever they had seen, ghost or not, had not been who they thought they were.

With a curt nod he came to a decision, his hand clutching the phone as he rolled over in his bed and settled down for the night.

He had to go back.


	5. Chapter 4

Jongin slowly trekked through the forest path, a flashlight in his left hand despite the sun shining bright down on him. The factory slowly grew larger in front of him, an eerie stillness laying in the air, pressing in on him. Summer still lingered, making it a pleasant autumn day and Jongin was glad the weather at least was on his side.

It had taken him until the woman had told them the history about the factory for him to figure out what had been bothering him for so long. If there truly was a malicious spirit living in the factory then why hadn’t it trapped them, or at least done a better job of doing so? Not only had the one bookshelf it had flipped down revealed an exit to them, but it hadn’t even tried to close the doors leading straight to their freedom. And the way Chanyeol had ran right into it, pushing it to the floor like it didn’t weigh a thing, made Jongin severely doubt any theories about it being an actual ghost.

Baekhyun and Junmyeon was 100% convinced that what they had seen had been a ghost, one of the old villagers changed into someone who died from the experimentation going on in the research lab. The rest of the group seemed to agree with them, although not completely. Jongdae refused to believe it was a ghost but when asked what he thought it was he just shrugged his shoulders and answered he hoped he would never find out.

Jongin on the other hand had a theory no one else agreed to. He believed the figure they had seen was one of the victims of the experimentation, still hanging out in the factory even after everything had passed. Minseok and Chanyeol had annoyingly asked him why the figure would still stay there, why the authorities let any of the victims stay and how it could still be alive after 10 years of living in an abandoned building.

He didn’t have any answers to that, but he couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that he was indeed on the right track.

He pushed the door to the factory open, noting a set of muddy footprints leading from the outside into the factory floor. One thing was sure. Someone was moving in and out of the factory and whomever it was, it wasn’t a ghost.

He turned on his flashlight and let the beam of light scan the factory floor. Nothing had changed from last time they were here. The tree coffee cups still balanced precariously on the light fixture and the same boxes and crates from before were still stacked against the walls. Now that the sun shone in from the many windows the building had a quiet beauty lingering over it, a story forgotten and buried under years of dust. People had walked these floors every day for so long and then they had all disappeared within the blink of an eye.

He spun slowly, looking for more clues before deciding to retrace their steps from that night. With his shoulders squared and his jaw set he headed towards the right pair of double doors at the end of the factory floor. That was where they had entered.

He wandered down the corridor, peaking into the many abandoned offices and storage rooms. He found even more coffee cups placed in even odder places now that the darkness wasn’t pressing against him like a heavy blanket. He let out a small laugh as he spotted a small smiley face drawn in one of the dust-covered surfaces, picturing Sehun leaving his mark on this place in just that way.

After 10 minutes of walking he reached the room labelled ‘test room’ and slowly pushed the door open, half expecting the figure to be lurking by the window. Of course, there was no one there and Jongin spun slowly in the room, searching for anything that they might have missed that night.

Nothing. It was just as devoid of clues as it had been. He stepped into the connecting room next, feeling his pulse speed up as the memories of that night replayed in his mind. That room was just like they left it, Sehun’s footprints clear against the door, the glass bottle on the floor, the gurney in the corner and the heavy bookcase laying in front of the hidden doorway.

A frown grew on his face as he observed the bookcase. It was bent, the top third of it curved up as if someone had held onto the top and pulled back. He thought back to the moments before the bookcase fell, remembering it leaning over Junmyeon in what had to be, now that he thought about it, an unnatural angle. Almost as if something was holding it back from falling until Junmyeon had moved out of the way.

He gave the piece of furniture a push with his foot, surprised at the weight of it. Something that heavy should have fell within seconds, if not faster. It was impossible for anyone to stop it once it had gone past a certain point of tilting.

Yet something clearly had.

Or someone.

Jongin turned around the room again, looking for anything that could give him a clue as to what had happened with the bookcase. His eyes landed on the door by the gurney and curiosity washed over him. With careful steps he walked forwards, hands curling around the handle before slowly pushing down.

The door opened with a click.

Jongin peaked inside, seeing the second factory floor Minseok so dearly had wanted to find stretch out in front of him. Unlike the other one though, this one was full of halfway disassembled machines and crates scattered about as if forgotten.

He took a step inside, frowning. If they had gone this way instead of the long corridor, he was certain someone, if not all of them, would have ended up hurt. The area was an accident waiting to happen and Jongin turned back around, not willing to risk his health to find the answers.

He headed into the corridor revealed behind the bookcase instead, remembering how the sound of doors slamming shut had followed him the last time he passed by these walls. He hesitantly reached out towards one of the doors he remembered slamming shut and pushed it open, revealing another corridor leading to god knows where.

He did the same thing with three more doors, all of them branching off into different parts of the factory. If they had ran through these who knows where they would have ended up. It was almost as if they were guided out of the factory, a clear route laid out in front of them to ensure they not only quickly, but also safely, made their way back outside.

5 minutes later the first factory floor opened up in front of him again and Jongin sighed deeply. Everything he has found here had done nothing more than add on to the questions he had. Nothing made sense.

He turned back towards the long corridor and almost dropped the flashlight in fright.

A few meters away the figure from that night was staring at him with large eyes. Jongin felt his heart speed up in chest, every muscle locked in place as his panicked brain searched for the quickest way out of there.

The seconds passed, ticking by as Jongin debated on whether or not running in panic would get him out of this situation again. Something slowly hit him, his eyes taking in the subtle shaking of the figure’s hands, the way those eyes would dart around the corridor and the way whatever fear Jongin was feeling was reflected back two-fold in those large eyes.

In a moment of split-second decisions Jongin took a step forwards, making the figure scramble backwards. Jongin stilled again and so did the figure, its chest jumping with its rapid breathing.

Now that Jongin took a closer look he could see that the figure was a boy around his age, stature short but stocky and short trimmed black hair contrasting against the pale skin. The bruises around his neck looked different this time around, a greenish tint to them as if they were halfway to healing.

“Hello?” He asked, taking another step forward. The air suddenly filled with a strange electricity. The leaves littering the factory floor start vibrating, rasping against the concrete floor. Jongin took a step back and the rattling calmed down.

“Are...are you doing that?” Jongin asked. The boy only stared at him, still hunched over as if ready to flee at any given moment.

Jongin decided to test the waters, slowly shuffling forwards, letting the rattling die down between each step, until he was only feet away from the figure. He slowly lowered himself, trying to make himself less intimidating. The boy shifted slightly, his fingers twitching in time with the increasing and decreasing sound of the leaves.

“I’m Jongin.” Jongin introduced himself. The boy didn’t reply. “Uh...I’m sorry if we frightened you the other night. We were just exploring.” He said with a shrug, feeling a short laugh bubble out of him. Oh god what was he doing? Talking to a stranger who quite possibly had tried to murder him less than a month ago.

“Thanks, by the way.” Jongin continued after a moment of silence and the boy frowned. “For guiding us safely out of here. And sorry on the behalf of Chanyeol. The guy who pushed you.” Jongin added. “He’s actually really nice. I’m sure if he knew that you were the reason we got out of here so fast, he wouldn’t have done what he did.”

The boy only looked at him with large eyes. His fingers were still twitching by his side, but the leaves have completely ceased their movement. Jongin took that as a good sign.

“Did it hurt?” He asked after another moment of silence. The boy slowly shook his head and Jongin found himself smiling. “Good.” He commented, and for a second, he almost thought a smile passed over those plump lips.

Suddenly the boy looked around, his mouth opening in a quiet gasp. He whipped back around towards Jongin. Something hooked around his clothes, pulling him back with enough force to almost send him flying. He stumbled, not ready for the sudden movement, and fell backwards, his head bouncing against the concrete floor just as a voice echoed down the corridor.

When he got back on his feet the boy was nowhere to be seen.


	6. Chapter 5

“Hyung I swear he was real.” Jongin insisted, not for the first time. Junmyeon rolled his eyes, dropping the pen he had been using. With a strained smile he looked back up at Jongin and the younger felt himself look away, not able to meet his gaze.

“First of all, you head into the factory, the very same factory all of us nearly died in less than a month ago, without telling anyone.” Junmyeon started and Jongin opened his mouth to note that he had actually told Sehun but Junmyeon’s sharp eyes made him think twice. “Then, you go and hit your head exploring the darn place! And now you’re telling me there is a human in there!”

“There is.” Jongin pouted, glaring at the floor. “I spoke to him.”

“There is no one in there!” Junmyeon snapped back. “And if I ever find you go back there again, I’ll make sure to land your ass in detention for the rest of the semester.”

“Fine.” Jongin sighed, still not looking at the older.

“Have you checked that you didn’t get a concussion?” Yixing asked gently and Jongin nodded.

“Nurse said I was fine. No concussion.” He confirmed, hand quickly coming up to rub at the bump on his head. He had gone to her right after coming back from the exploration, but not before getting caught coming back by Minseok who had somehow pried it out of him that he had visited the factory once more and then gone ahead and told everyone. He sent the oldest a small glare but quickly turned away before it could be acknowledged. Minseok was one of the few who hadn’t freaked out completely when he found out about his excursion.

“I’m going to bed.” Jongin sighed and the table wished him good night in mumbled voices, everyone occupied with their homework. Technically Jongin still had homework that had to be done but he found that he couldn’t concentrate on anything, his mind thinking back to yesterday and the short talk he and the figure had shared in the corridor.

“Sup.” Chanyeol called to him from his top bunk. Jongin nodded back at him, throwing his history book on the messy desk and collapsing down on his bed. He had the bottom bunk underneath Sehun while Chanyeol and Jongdae shared the other bunk. He had tried to change place with both Sehun and Chanyeol, liking the feeling of safety he got from sleeping so high up, but both students refused and Jongin had to count himself defeated.

“Junmyeon still giving you a hard time?” Chanyeol asked and Jongin nodded into his pillow, slowly rolling over on his back so he could look at Chanyeol on the other side of the room. “Don’t worry. He’ll let it go. He was just worried.” The other said, looking back his phone.

“Yeah I know.” Jongin sighed, pulling at a loose thread on his shirt.

“We all were.” Chanyeol added.

“I know that too.” Jongin muttered, pouting slightly. It wasn’t like he had snuck away in secret or anything. He had told Sehun after all. It wasn’t his fault that Sehun hadn’t listened.

And besides, he had proven his theory, or at least somewhat. The factory wasn’t haunted, it was inhabited. The boy was living there somehow and judging from the voices they had heard someone else had to be there too. And he hadn’t been in danger. He knew how to take care of himself and if he got lost then he was sure the boy would guide him out once again.

“Hey, Jongin?” Chanyeol called softly and Jongin hummed in response, looking up at the older from the corner of his eye. “You don’t think whoever you saw might have been a hallucination?” Chanyeol suggested softly, his voice rising in pitch at the end.

“No. What do you mean?” Jongin asked with a frown. He knew what he had seen. The boy had been as clear in front of him as Chanyeol was right now.

“I mean that, maybe there are some gasses or whatever still in that place. And with your head injury. You might not even remember correctly.” Chanyeol explained.

“I wasn’t injured.” Jongin protested.

“I have read up on mass hallucination you know.” Chanyeol continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “And they can happen, especially with some hallucinogenic in the air. And considering we all had heard Junmyeon describe someone exactly as that boy it isn’t too much of a stretch to believe that that’s what we saw.”

“I wasn’t hallucinating.” Jongin said, sending a glare Chanyeol’s way.

“You don’t always know when you’re hallucinating. It was probably something in those bottles, you know the ones on the table.” Chanyeol argued. “That’s where the strange things started happening both times right.”

“Then how do you explain running right into him?” Jongin challenged and Chanyeol’s mouth snapped shut.

  
“Well...I mean. We could have hallucinated that too.” He defended, his hand coming up to rub at his shoulder in an unconscious attempt at comfort. Jongin knew there was a large bruise still healing hidden by his shirt covering his shoulder and most of his arm. It had appeared the day after they had come back from the factory. A clear statement that whatever they had encountered had been real.

“Sure. Whatever.” Jongin rolled over, facing the wall and putting his back towards Chanyeol. He knew what he had seen, and he was going to continue to do so until he was proven wrong.

The next day Junmyeon seemed to have finally forgiven him for sneaking away. Jongin was glad that he didn’t have to spend another whole day apologizing but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel like they were all actively trying to keep him off the topic of the factor and the boy living within.

Even Baekhyun who previously could have talked anyone’s ear off about the topic if given the chance would change topic abruptly if Jongin even so much as hinted at anything of the sort. He quickly grew bored of trying to make anyone listen to his tale and settled for searching the internet for any sort of clues during class instead.

All he found were more and more conspiracy theories about the government using human experimentation to create super soldiers or how the drug companies were all making us addicted so they could earn more money. Once he stumbled upon what had to be the twentieth list of so called ‘proof’ for how the government were hiding hormones in the school lunches he groaned and gave up.

  
“Am I boring you Mr Kim?” His teacher spoke up and Jongin’s head flinched up, his eyes wide in shock. He could hear Sehun snicker beside him and felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment.

“No teacher.” He quickly replied, shaking his head.

“Then I would prefer you kept your eyes on the blackboard instead of your phone Mr Kim.” The teacher continued and Jongin nodded, pocketing his phone.

“Yeah, Mr Kim. Stop thinking about your ghost crush.” Sehun teased next to him as the teacher turned back to the blackboard and Jongin pinched his thigh, making the lanky boy twitch before pulling a face at him.

“He’s not a ghost.” Jongin whispered back, sending a glare Sehun’s way before turning to face the teacher.

“So, he is your crush?” Sehun teased.

“No, he’s not.” Jongin snapped back, rolling his eyes at the smirk Sehun was sending him

“I don’t know it sounds awfully lot like you do have a crush on him.” Sehun continued, pretending to muse over the subject.

“I do not.” Jongin insisted.

“I’m quite sure you do.” Sehun countered with a slow nod.

“Do not!” Jongin hissed.

“Mr Kim! What did I just say?” The teacher called and Jongin’s head whipped around to look at him again.

“But-”

“Detention after class.” The teacher added, bending down to make a note in the class book.

“But Sehun Teacher!” Jongin called out, pointing at the boy next to him who innocently blinked his eyes towards the teacher.

“Do you want me to add another detention?” The teacher threatened and Jongin face fell.

“No Teacher.” He mumbled, ignoring the way Sehun was fighting to hold his laughter back.

Once classes were over for the day Jongin made his way towards the detention hall with heavy legs, glaring after Sehun who happily waved him off before joining a waiting Chanyeol and Baekhyun and hurriedly retelling the story.

Inside waited their math teacher and Jongin solemnly gave her his detention slip and phone before making his way towards the benches at the end of the classroom and sitting down. With a deep sigh he pulled up his English books and flipping it open to the chapter they were working on. He let his eyes run over the first lines of text before mentally groaning and deciding that daydreaming would be a better way to pass the time.

He turned his head towards the window, staring out into the vast forest and wondering if there were more people like the boy living in the factory. He would have to ask him the next time he went to visit. Because there would be a next time no matter what Junmyeon said. He’d just have to be sneakier about it this time around.

“Sup Ghost man.”

Jongin looked up, seeing a smiling Jongdae look down at him before taking the seat next to him.

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asked, watching Jongdae pull out a crumpled notebook and slapping it down on the desk.

“Apparently you’re not allowed to sleep in class, who knew.” Jongdae said with faked surprise and Jongin felt a smile grown on his lips. At least the two hours he would be spending here wouldn’t be too awful with Jongdae by his side.

“They’re framing you.” Jongin said with a serious expression. 

“I know!” Jongdae agreed before bursting out into laughter. Jongin felt himself join, hiding his laughing behind his hand so he wouldn’t get into trouble. He could feel the eyes of their math teacher on him and quickly looked down at his English book, trying to ignore the giggles coming from Jongdae.

“How about you then?” Jongdae asked once the teacher’s attention was off of them. Jongin slowly leaned to the side, eyes still on his notebook as to not make it too obvious he was having a conversation.

“Got caught being on my phone.” He muttered, still pissed off at the fact that he had gotten detention for it.

“Oh, classic.” Jongdae said with a nod, sketching out a series of boxes on his notebook. “What were you doing? Texting a hottie?”

“No. I was trying to look up info on the factory.” Jongin admitted and the rasping of Jongdae’s pencil abruptly stopped.

“Dude, is it true you saw him again?” Jongdae asked, voice barely a whisper. Jongin nodded, not having to ask to know who he was referring to.

“Man, that’s so freaky.” Jongdae shuddered, shaking his head as if to force the thought out of his head.

“He’s not evil.” Jongin whispered back, butchering the spelling of ‘chair’ in his notebook.

“How do you know?” Jongdae wondered, sounding genuinely intrigued.

“Like. The door that wouldn’t open in the room. It leads to this second factory floor filled with machines and sawblades and all kinds of dangerous shit, so he stopped us from going in there. And then the bookcase that fell. He actually held it back so that Junmyeon could move out of the way.” Jongin begun and Jongdae slowly turned his head towards him, a frown growing. “And then like he revealed the only escape route. And then the doors that slammed shut all led deeper into the factory, if we had run into them, we would have been screwed.” He finished, nodding seriously.

“Are...are you sure?” Jongdae said doubtfully.

“Yeah. I checked.” Jongin replied and Jongdae shuddered again, twisting uncomfortably in his seat.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you but...man why?” Jongdae questioned, looking at Jongin for the answers.

“What do you mean why?” Jongin asked.

“I mean why is he there? And why was he trying to get us out of the factory to begin with? And why can he do all that like, magic stuff.” Jongdae asked and Jongin bit his lip, no answers coming forth in his brain. “It just doesn’t add up.”

“It’s still better than mass hallucination.” Jongin sighed, turning back to his worksheet while mulling the questions over in his mind.

“Yeah but, at least that explains it all.” Jongdae argued but Jongin didn’t reply, instead focusing his attention back towards his English books.

They didn’t talk anymore during their two hours, Jongin stubbornly looking down into his book the whole time despite Jongdae’s many tries at starting a conversation. The questions wouldn’t leave Jongin’s mind. Why was the boy trying to get them out of the factory? Was there something more hiding in there? And what in that case? The questions were like itches demanding to be scratched and Jongin found himself thinking of them several days later, spacing out during class and in the middle of conversation whenever a new theory formed in his mind.

He had to get the answers. He had to find out why the boy was there to begin at least. There had to be a reason, there always was.

He simply had to go back and see for himself.

* * *

He once again pushed the heavy metal doors open and stepped in to the factory floor. It was another sunny Saturday and Jongin couldn’t help but smile as he spotted the familiar three coffee cups on the lamp hanging from the ceiling. He turned his flashlight on with a small click and started wandering down the large open area towards the double doors at the end of the factory floor.

He had told the rest of the group that he was going to take a walk through the small town and much to his relief no one had wanted to join in, meaning he could spend as much time as he wanted in the factory before heading back to the dorm and pretending like nothing had happened.

He reached out for the handle to the double doors before stopping himself. He looked over to his left where the still open door leading to the long corridor were. Every other time they he had seen the boy it had been in connection to that corridor. Starting there would probably be the quickest way to find him again.

With his mind set he let his hand slide off the handle and set foot towards the corridor, his eyes sweeping over the factory floor once before aiming themselves towards the corridor. It was empty. A sigh of disappointment swelled in his chest. He still continued down the long pathway letting the light from his flashlight lead the way.

He made sure to take his time, looking into each door he passed. Unlike the corridor behind the double doors where every door lead to some sort of room these doors almost exclusively lead to more corridors. They were fewer too. He quietly wondered if these were some sort of emergency exit corridor or anything of the sort. Quite possibly.

He did pass a few offices though but sadly they were all as empty as the corridors. They even lacked the coffee cup construction that he had grown so used to seeing. He still stepped into each and every one of them, shining his light into the corners in search of clues as to what had happened there.

After a few minutes of walking he turned a corner and saw the opening leading to the room with the gurney, the heavy book case still laying on the floor. He sighed, knowing that these doors lead to nothing but more corridors. He took a step forwards before stopping himself, was it worth it to walk the whole full circle? He had never seen the boy in the other corridors or offices, but then again, he had only seen the boy twice. What was to say he favoured these parts of the factory.

He still turned around, shining his light back down the way he came from as he chewed his lip in thought. As the light passed over one of the many doors his eyes caught hold of something glinting before disappearing quickly. He felt himself freeze, a chill running down his spine.

He slowly moved his flashlight back to where the glint had been, locating a door pushed ajar. As he watched a pale hand reached out, grabbed the handle and slowly started pulling the door closed. Jongin felt a smile twitch on his lips, glad that he had finally found someone.

He quickly jogged forwards, reaching the door just in time to push his hand between the doorpost and the wood and force it open. The small boy tumbled out, hand still on the door handle, and almost face planted right into Jongin’s kneecaps. With a whelp Jongin jumped back, reaching down to grab the other’s shoulders and stopping his fall.

“Sorry.” Jongin spoke softly, one hand still on the door and the other holding on to the boy. The boy looked up at him before scrambling backwards. Once again, the feeling of something hooking into his clothes and pulling him backwards grabbed hold of him and Jongin was forced to back up and away from the door.

Trying desperately to keep his feet under him Jongin stumbled backwards, his left foot slipping on a leaf and folding under him. With a low thud his ass landed on the concrete and Jongin’s hands quickly shot out to brace themselves against the floor. Finally, the tugging stopped and Jongin looked back up, locking eyes with the boy again.

“Hi.” He smiled, his voice breathy. The boy only stared back at him. “Jongin again. Kinda just wanted to check back in on you.” He added, his words echoing around him and only adding to the awkwardness.

The boy did nothing but considering nothing was trembling around them Jongin actually counted that as a good thing. He slowly sat up properly, scooting slightly forwards to test the waters. The boy shied back but didn’t move from his spot. Good. All good.

“So uh, do you live here?” He asked in lack of anything better to say.

No answer. Of course.

“I live in the school like...10 minutes away from here. It’s quite nice. Not quite like home but you know. It is what you make it.” He continued, adding an awkward laugh at the end. The boy still didn’t move.

“Yeah. Um. That’s me...” He trailed off, sucking in a breath between his teeth and looking around the corridor to see if there was anything he could strike up conversation about. Nothing. If only the boy wasn’t so quiet. It was like he didn’t even know how to talk.

“You can speak, right?” Jongin asked, raising an eyebrow towards the boy.

“Yes.” The boy replied, his voice surprisingly steady for his frightened eyes.

“Oh! Of course. Yeah, of course you can speak.” Jongin said, looking down towards his feet. Stupid question. “Sorry.” He added.

No reply.

“Your voice is nice.” Jongin said next, not really thinking about what he was saying. Now it was the boy’s turn to look away, a pink tint to his cheeks. Jongin found himself smiling.

“What’s your name?” He asked, scooting forwards again. This time the boy didn’t move back.

“...Kyungsoo.” The boy replied, still looking shyly at the floor.

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin repeated, trying out the name. “I’m Jongin.” He introduced himself, bowing the best he could from his sitting position. Kyungsoo returned the bow and Jongin thought he saw a quick smile flicker across those lips again.

“Are you the one who leaves the coffee cups everywhere?” Jongin asked after a moment of silence. “I keep seeing them stacked on all sorts of things. Me and my friends, the ones who were here the first night, saw the three on the lamp in the big factory floor. We like that one.” He explained and Kyungsoo looked away, another small blush creeping up his cheeks.

The smaller nodded after a second, his hand playing with some pebbles on the floor. Jongin felt himself smile. Kyungsoo was definitely no ghost, and despite knowing him for less than 5 minutes evil was the last word Jongin would use to describe Kyungsoo with.

“Not to offend or anything, but you’re kinda short. How do you get them up there?” Jongin asked, shifting on the floor so he could get closer to Kyungsoo. The other male didn’t even react to his movement this time around.

“It’s complicated.” Kyungsoo replied quietly, fingers straying from the pebbles to rub at his neck shyly. Jongin’s eyes followed the movement, landing on the greenish purple bruises around his neck before looking away quickly. He wanted to know where they came from, why there was a bruise hidden by his left temple underneath his short buzz cut and why Kyungsoo was even here to begin with, but he didn’t want to break whatever small amount of trust that they had built between them. So, he stuck to the safe topics.

“Can you show me?” Jongin asked. “I saw some cups in an office like...three doors down when I walked here. You can show me with those.” He excitedly turned around to face the direction of said office, pointing and looking back at Kyungsoo to make sure the smaller knew where he was talking about.

“I’m not supposed to...” Kyungsoo mumbled but Jongin could hear a hint of, was it longing, in his voice that made the excuse sound anything but genuine.

“I won’t tell anyone.” Jongin promised, winking before letting out a small laugh at the flustered look in Kyungsoo’s eyes. He stood up, holding out a hand for Kyungsoo to take. The other hesitated for a moment, looking down the corridor as if expecting someone to be there. Jongin cast a look over his shoulder, finding it as empty as it had always been, and when he looked back Kyungsoo had already stood up, Jongin’s outreached hand ignored.

Together they made their way down the corridor and into the office. Just like Jongin had said there was a group of four coffee cups waiting for them and after a moment of waiting Kyungsoo stepped up to them, gathering them on the table in the middle of the office before grabbing two and placing them next to each other. He then grabbed a third and placed on top of the other two, creating a small pyramid before stepping back.

“Really?” Jongin asked sceptically. Kyungsoo quickly shushed him, staring at the cups with a look of intense concentration. Jongin looked between the cups and Kyungsoo, waiting for something to happen.

The clirr of porcelain hitting wood suddenly rang out in the room and Jongin turned his eyes to the cups just in time to see the three of them lift off from the surface, slowly gliding through the air up, up, up until they settled on top of one of the lockers in the room with a small clink.

“Whoa!” Jongin gasped, turning to look at Kyungsoo before staring at the cups again. “Did you? Was that you?” Jongin asked, walking up to the locker and jumping a little to see the cups properly. The dust around the cups was undisturbed, as if the cups had just appeared out of nowhere on top of that locker. The only thing revealing that the they hadn’t been there to begin with was the obvious lack of dust on the cups, that and the fingerprints left by Kyungsoo.

He turned back around, eyes wide with excitement, and felt his face fall.

Kyungsoo was gone.

“Kyungsoo?” He called, stepping out of the office and looking down the corridor. Nothing. He took a step out, calling the other’s name again. He felt disappointment fill him. Had he done something wrong? Or had he scared Kyungsoo away with his questions? He hoped not.

“I’ll come back again next week!” Jongin called, hoping Kyungsoo could hear him and hoping that his next visit would be a welcomed one. He lingered a moment longer, craning his neck as if to see better but the corridor in front of him continued to be disappointingly empty.

“See you!” He called before turning around and slowly walking back towards the entrance, eyes searching for anything that could hint at where the boy had gone.


	7. Chapter 6

Jongin slowly retraced the writing in his notebook, a bored look on his face. His eyes flickered up at Chanyeol every once in a while, before returning to the notebook and observing the thickening lines left behind by his pencil. He heaved a sigh, lifting his pencil to another line before repeating the same process over again.

“Alright dude, we get it.” Chanyeol hissed and Jongin stopped his movements, staring up at the older with a pout on his lips. “Gods you’re worse than Sehun.”

“I was just telling you what I saw.” Jongin said, definitely not whining. Chanyeol groaned, his head flopping down on his open book. Next to him Jongdae snickered and Minseok rolled his eyes.

“And I’m telling you you’re lucky we’re not telling Junmyeon that you went back to the factory.” Chanyeol spoke into his book, slowly raising his head and sending Jongin a threatening look. Jongin let go of his pencil and crossed his arms, still definitely not whining.

“But there is someone there Hyung! And it’s not a ghost.” Jongin insisted, not caring about the threat. He knew what he saw, and Kyungsoo was as real as Minseok right next to him. And he was living in the factory and Jongin needed to figure out why. The question had been nagging him ever since he came back from the last visit three days ago and now that he had finally confided in his friends, they treated it like Jongin was making stuff up.

“Quiet down will you.” Chanyeol hissed and Jongin huffed out a breath. They were in the library trying to get some school work and while Chanyeol was right by shushing him and making sure he didn’t get thrown out Jongin did not appreciate the attempt at changing subjects.

“It’s not a hallucination either.” Jongin added under his breath as he bent back down over his homework and picking up his pencil. He underlined a few words at random in his text, hoping they were the nouns.

“You know. Maybe it’s one of those self-fulfilling prophecies you’re so fond of. You’re so obsessed with this person you saw that you start hallucinating him just so you could see him.” Chanyeol suggested with a harsh voice and Jongin sent him a glare.

“That’s not even how they work.” He muttered, underlining the last word in each sentence in the next portion of the text, knowing that sentences always ended with verbs.

“You know beautiful isn’t a verb.” Minseok whispered next to him and Jongin looked down at where his pen had just underlined said word.

“Doesn’t sentences always end with a verb?” He asked.

“A verb or an adjective.” Minseok supplied and Jongin picked up his eraser and violently brought it down on the paper.

“I believe him.” Jongdae said, looking over at Chanyeol with a twinkle in his eyes. The tall boy only groaned and shook his head.

  
“Jongdae seriously? It’s obviously not a real human being living in the abandoned factory.” Chanyeol sighed, turning his eyes on Jongdae.

“Why not?” Jongdae questioned and Jongin made a noise of agreement.

“Because! It’s abandoned! How the fuck is anyone supposed to live in a place like that. There is no food, no water, no heat, no-aaagh!” Chanyeol’s rant was cut short by a pair of fingers grasping his ear, twisting it.

“Park Chanyeol, why are you screaming in my library.” The librarian questioned and Jongin quickly brought his hand up to his mouth, holding back a giggle. “You too Kim Jongin, don’t think I didn’t hear you.”

Jongin abruptly quieted, a small pout forming on his lips as Jongdae burst out laughing, pointing at the youngest fallen face.

“Get out.” She said with a deep sigh, still holding on to Chanyeol’s ear and forcing him to stand up. Jongin quickly followed, preferring his ears untouched. Jongdae joined with muted chuckles and Minseok followed with a silent glare at the three of them.

They were escorted to the exit and as the door closed behind them Minseok rolled his eyes and pulled his backpack further up on his shoulder.

  
“Great going, Yeol.” He sighed and the tallest spluttered, staring at Minseok with wide eyes.

“Me!? But I didn’t do anything!” He protested and Jongin felt his lips quirk up in a smirk.

“If you had just left the subject of ghosts or whatever it is Jongin’s obsessing over alone then I could have finished my essay in peace.” Minseok sighed but there was no actual bite behind his words. Jongin still didn’t like the fact that Kyungsoo was somehow his obsession. He was only trying to make the others see the truth.

“But he’s the one who thinks there is a person living in the factory.” Chanyeol argued.

“Know.” Jongin corrected and Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

“If you’re so set on proving him wrong then why don’t you follow along to one of his little adventures.” Minseok suggested, a small smirk playing on his lips at the sight of Chanyeol’s wide eyes.

“But, but,” He spluttered. “It’s not like Jongin’s going to go again, right?” He turned to Jongin who didn’t say anything. He was going to go again, but he wasn’t stupid enough to tell them about it. He didn’t want Junmyeon to find out after all.

“Yeah right.” Minseok snorted and Jongdae let out a chuckle. Chanyeol stared at Jongin who looked anywhere but Chanyeol, trying to act innocent.

“Seriously.” Chanyeol groaned, turning around to bang his head against the wooden door.

“Hey, Jonginnie, you okay with me joining you next time. I kinda wanna see this person.” Jongdae asked, making Jongin look over at him with a frown.

“Uh...yeah. Sure.” He agreed, sending a confused look to Minseok who answered back with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Jongdae!” Chanyeol gasped and the other student only grinned, walking up to sling an arm around Jongin’s shoulders.

“Someone has to make sure our younglings stay safe.” He explained and Minseok rolled his eyes, waving goodbye and starting to walk back towards the dorm. Jongin grinned, allowing Jongdae to pull him around and the two of them followed the eldest.

“Just don’t come crying to me when Junmyeon lands your asses in detention for the rest of the year.” Chanyeol huffed behind them and Jongdae waved a hand in reply, brushing off the comment with a confident face.

* * *

Jongin shrugged his jacket closer around himself, looking at Jongdae from the corner of his eye as they trekked through the forest towards the factory. Jongdae’s eyes were watching the tree crowns, following the flight of crows and squinting to look through bushes. It was almost like he was searching for something.

Jongin knew what, or who to be exact. But he also knew Kyungsoo wouldn’t be out here. Or at least he thought so. He had never met Kyungsoo outside of the factory, but he knew for a fact that the boy did walk in and out, if the footprints by the factory door was anything to go by. Jongin really hoped today wasn’t one of the days Kyungsoo had decided to venture outside.

He had told the boy he would be back today after all, last Saturday before leaving the empty corridors behind. He hoped Kyungsoo had heard him. After all he had no idea where the boy had gone after he disappeared when Jongin wasn’t looking.

Maybe he really was a hallucination? Brought about Jongin’s need to find out what was really going on behind the scenes. He looked over at Jongdae, seeing the other student’s hopeful eyes widen as the doors to the factory came into view, and shook his head. He couldn’t start doubting himself now. Not when he was finally about to prove to everyone that there really was a boy living in the factory.

“What does he look like?” Jongdae asked, turning his eyes towards Jongin.

“Like he did that night. Except he’s like, he looks more real than then.” Jongin explained, letting out a nervous laugh as Jongdae raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s hard to explain. You’ll see when we meet him.” He finished, grabbing hold of the iron door and pulling it open.

Jongdae stepped inside, looking around himself with excited eyes that slowly turned into a frown. Jongin couldn’t help but chuckle. With a small click he turned on his flashlight and let his eyes flicker over the now familiar factory floor. Nothing had changed, boxes still where they were last time, the door leading into the corridor that he had left open still ajar, the coffee cups still in their place on the lamp.

“He’s usually in that corridor.” Jongin said, shining his light towards the corridor at the end of the factory floor. Jongdae nodded, waiting for Jongin to make the first move. Jongin started walking, not waiting for Jongdae who had to jog slightly to catch up, his body language clearly speaking of how uncomfortable he was in the situation.

“Doesn’t this place give you the creeps?” Jongdae asked once they neared the corridor and Jongin shook his head honestly.

“No, not any longer. It’s not as creepy when you know someone’s watching over you.” He explained, shining his light towards the different doors as they entered the corridor. Much to his disappointment there was no owl eyes staring back at him.

“Watching over you?” Jongdae repeated, his voice rising slightly in pitch.

“Yeah, Kyungsoo makes sure I get out of here safe and sound.” Jongin said, a smile playing on his lips. Jongdae repeated the name but didn’t say anything else. The two of them continued deeper into the factory, Jongdae a few steps behind Jongin as they walked.

Jongin kept his eyes out for a clue as to where Kyungsoo was, peeking into the different offices and opening the doors leading to the other corridors to see if he was hiding in there. His hope sank as he passed door by door, still no sign of the other.

Maybe he had been a hallucination all along, brought on by the left over drug still lingering in the air and Junmyeon’s description of Kyungsoo. But that didn’t explain the coffee cups still standing on the locker where the two of them had left them last week. Still no sign of human interaction on those cups. A thin layer of dust had now gathered on top of them, but it was still so much thinner than the dust resting on top of everything else.

He sighed, moving out of the office and heading towards the turn leading to the test room, hoping against all hope that Kyungsoo would be there waiting for him.

“Jongin!” A voice said as he turned the corner, wide eyes staring at him and a small smile on plump lips shining towards him. Jongin felt a smile grow on his own lips as he took in Kyungsoo, the small male sitting on the floor as if he had been waiting for Jongin to show up.

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin replied, watching the small male stand up only to flinch and back away with a shocked expression a moment later. Jongin turned around, eyes landing on Jongdae who were staring at Kyungsoo with an equally shocked expression.

“Oh, this is Jongdae.” Jongin said, gesturing to the other. Kyungsoo sent him a look, those wide eyes filled with fear and Jongin could once again feel that spark of electricity in the air. “He’s my friend. He’s okay Kyungsoo.” Jongin continued quickly, raising his hands and taking a step forward. The feeling of something catching on his clothes made him stop but instead of being tugged backwards like every other time this time he stayed still, the pulling only strong enough to stop him.

“Hi.” Jongdae said softly, raising a hand. Jongin turned his head to see how Jongdae’s jacked were pulled back as if someone had grabbed the collar and pulled but of course there was nothing holding onto the fabric.

Kyungsoo said nothing, his hands shaking slightly by his side as he watched the two of them. Jongin noticed how the bruises around his neck were almost gone but today there was a new bruise on his temples, red and raw as if they were brand new.

“He’s okay Kyungsoo. I promise.” Jongin spoke softly. Kyungsoo’s eyes locked with his and an impossibly long second stretched between them. Jongin wished he could read what was hiding behind those eyes, the memories flickering by too fast for Jongin to pinpoint any of the emotions they conveyed.

As suddenly as it had started the pulling on their clothes stopped and Jongdae uncomfortably shrugged his shoulders, pulling at his jacket to get it back in place. Jongin took a step forwards, smiling softly at Kyungsoo who looked away.

“Um...Jongin said you were the one who let us out that night.” Jongdae stated, not quite a question. Kyungsoo nodded, pulling a little at his clothes. He was dressed completely in black, a sweatshirt hanging over his shoulders, hems frayed by years of use, and a black pair of jeans on his legs, dust clinging to them and covering them white where he had been sitting on the floor. On his feet were a pair of sturdy boots, looking soft from years of use.

“Thanks.” Jongdae continued, smiling softly. Kyungsoo nodded again, still looking at the floor. “Is it true that you live here?” Jongdae continued.

Another nod.

“Really? How? Do you have like a room where you live? And how do you get food? And why do you live here?” Jongdae continued, his earlier apprehension completely forgotten. Jongin sent him a glare, grabbing his arm to make him shut up.

In front of them Kyungsoo squirmed uncomfortably, hunching down on himself. Jongdae turned towards Jongin, silently asking him what he was doing.

“You don’t have to answer that. Jongdae talks too much for his own good.” Jongin said, looking over at Kyungsoo and ignoring the frustrated look Jongdae was giving him.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Jongdae sighed once it became clear that Jongin wasn’t going to explain to him why he didn’t want answers to those questions. Jongin did, he really, really wanted to find out what was going on here, but he wasn’t going to force Kyungsoo to tell him. Kyungsoo clearly had something to hide and from the looks of it he was doing his best to keep Jongin from finding out. Jongin wasn’t one to force people to reveal their secrets like that, especially not when the other person was still learning to trust him.

“What have you been up to?” Jongin asked instead. “We’ve been doing school work like 24/7, right Jongdae.” Jongin complained and Jongdae made a noise of agreement, still not completely at ease with talking to Kyungsoo. “It’s not too bad though. I just like whining.” He said with a small shrug and a laugh and Kyungsoo looked up, meeting Jongin’s eyes.

“How about you?” Jongin asked, raising his eyebrows slightly and a tiny flicker of a smile flickered over Kyungsoo’s lips.

“Nothing much.” He replied, his voice deep and smooth like honey.

“Come on, you have to have done something.” Jongin laughed, taking a step forward. Kyungsoo didn’t step back.

Kyungsoo shrugged, a hint of a blush on his pale cheeks. He pulled as his sleeves and looked up at Jongin.

  
“I watched people.” He answered softly, looking away quickly as if shy. Jongin heard himself chuckle slightly and took another step forward.

  
“I like people watching too.” Jongin said and Kyungsoo looked back at him, a real smile spreading to his lips for the first time. “Can we join today?” Jongin asked, gesturing to Jongdae who were still standing where he had first stopped.

Kyungsoo hesitated for a moment before nodding, quickly stepping away to one of the doors and pulling it open. Jongin followed, seeing a new corridor spread out in front of him. He gestured for Jongdae to follow and headed after the small figure that was Kyungsoo, their footsteps echoing against the concrete walls.

It was a short walk, barely two minutes. Kyungsoo led them around a corner and up a staircase before stepping into a room with large windows facing the town. Jongin felt a smile grow on his lips as he spotted a collection of coffee cups with different designs and other small trinkets lying on the shelf, like a treasure trove. No wonder those offices were so empty. Someone had been walking around collecting everything left behind.

“So, this is where you hide out all day?” Jongin asked, grabbing one of the office chairs and pushing it towards one of the windows. An armchair was already positioned in front of one of them and Kyungsoo nodded as he curled up in it with practised ease.

Jongdae followed Jongin’s lead, pulling out a chair for himself and settling in it, backrest against the window so he could lean his arms on it as he peeked through the glass.

“It’s kinda cosy in a weird way.” Jongdae said and Jongin made a noise of agreement, rubbing his jacket sleeve against the window to clear some of the dust off of it.

“You can see really well from here.” Jongin commented and Kyungsoo nodded, shifting closer as someone came into view.

“He always come here at this time.” Kyungsoo said, pointing towards the figure. It was an old man, his back hunched over as he supported himself on a cane. “He used to meet an old lady. But I think she passed away. I haven’t seen her in months.” Kyungsoo’s soft voice continued and Jongin was surprised by how much the shy boy had said.

“Awe, that’s sad.” Jongdae spoke, leaning forwards to get a better look at the old man. Jongin nodded, watching as the man stopped as if to look for someone before continuing his walk down the road.

He stayed quiet as they continued to watch, a handful of people showing up and Kyungsoo telling them the story behind them all. How often they passed, who they usually came with, what they did. A group of students from the school passed and Kyungsoo quietly told them how he sometimes watches the students from the trees in at the edge of the forest. They were the most fun to watch and Jongin could understand why. Different students every year, different groups doing different things.

“Sometimes I get noticed.” Kyungsoo spoke, a sad huff following that almost sounded like a laugh. “But I think they all think I’m a ghost or something.” He said and Jongin chuckled, thinking back to Junmyeon’s story and how it all fit together so perfectly now.

“Are you not supposed to be seen?” Jongdae asked and Kyungsoo shook his head.

“I’m a secret.” He said but offered no further explanation.

“How about us?” Jongin asked and Kyungsoo looked down at his lap, a pink blush obvious on his cheeks in the light shining in from the windows. It made him look healthy, more alive. Jongin thought he should blush more often.

“You can be secrets too.” He said. “My secret.” He rubbed his neck quickly, wincing slightly as he aggravated the bruises. Jongin felt his heart swell at that.

“Thank you.” Jongin said sincerely and Kyungsoo nodded, still blushing, before pointing towards an old woman with a small child walking down the road, telling them how he often saw them together and how the small girl often held a vegetable or something of the sort, fresh from one of the many farms in the area.

They stayed for almost an hour before leaving, having to get back to the school before things got suspicious. Kyungsoo showed them to the factory floor, seeming reluctant to exit the corridors as he waved goodbye. Jongin promised to come again next week, waving one last time before letting the heavy iron door swing shut behind them.

They walk back to the school was quiet, both of them in thought over the mystery which was Kyungsoo. While today had settled one of Jongin’s biggest questions, weather Kyungsoo was real or not, it had also created even more questions. Kyungsoo obviously spent his days in the factory, why? And why was he a secret? And if he was a secret that secret had to belong to someone, whom?

Jongin was just about to open his mouth and ask Jongdae about his thoughts on the whole Kyungsoo situation when a voice rang out behind them, making them both freeze in the corridor leading to their dorm.

“Where have you been?”

Junmyeon was glaring at them with his arms crossed, a no nonsense look on his face as he looked the two of them up and down.

“Uh-” Jongin replied.

“Don’t!” Junmyeon interrupted. “I already know. Chanyeol told me you were going to the factory.”

“That ass.” Jongdae cursed under his breath.

“We were just...looking around.” Jongin tried but judging from Junmyeon’s heavy glare it would be better to just own up to it as soon as possible.

“Look, I’ll tell you but please, let’s go to the dorm first.” Jongin sighed, not wanting to talk about Kyungsoo where so many curious ears could listen in. Junmyeon reluctantly agreed, leading the two of them to the dorm without letting them out of his sight for even a second.

“Ok talk.” He ordered the moment the door closed behind them and Jongin sighed, hand moving up to pull at his ear as he thought of the best way to approach this.

“We went to the factory.” He started and he could feel the looks of everyone on his back. The dorm had been packed when he entered and of course at the mention of the factory and the sight of a fuming Junmyeon no one’s attention would be anywhere but on the three of them.

“Any luck catching the ghost?” Sehun asked, his voice taking on a mocking tone.

“We saw him!” Jongdae said, looking over at Sehun with large eyes. The smirk on the youngest face fell away, leaving behind a look of shock. “He’s real, I talked to him.” Jongdae continued.

“You what?” Junmyeon asked and Jongdae turned to face the older.

“We saw him. Both of us.” Jongin clarified. “The boy we all saw that night in the factory. He’s real. This is the fourth time I’ve seen him.” He explained, meeting Junmyeon’s stare of disbelief with a steady gaze.

“He isn’t real.” Chanyeol interjected from his place on the couch. “It’s like a hallucination.”

“He’s as real as you or me.” Jongdae replied, turning to face Chanyeol. “I talked to him. He likes to people watch.” He said quickly and Chanyeol looked away, looking like someone just told him the world is flat.

“Maybe he’s just a confused senior citizen having wandered into the factory.” Baekhyun joked but Jongin shook his head.

“He’s our age. And he’s real.” He said sternly and Baekhyun looked away with a frown.

“Stop it! He’s not real!” Junmyeon snapped, grabbing Jongin’s shoulder and forcing him to turn around and face him. Jongin shrugged the hand off of him, taking a step back to put some space between the two of them.

“He’s real. And his name is Kyungsoo.” Jongin said with a decisive nod of his head and Junmyeon drew a short breath, his jaw so tense Jongin could almost hear his teeth grind against each other.

“If he’s so real then we’re _all _going there tomorrow to see him.” Junmyeon spat, gesturing to the people in the room.

“What?” Yixing said from his spot by the desks, next to him Minseok was staring at them with a shocked look on his face.

“Don’t drag me into this.” Baekhyun protested, Chanyeol and Sehun joining in with protests of their own.

“I said _ALL_.” Junmyeon roared and the room abruptly grew quiet.

“Fine.” Jongin said, nodding once towards Junmyeon before turning around and heading into the bedroom. He was going to show them all. He was going to prove that Kyungsoo was living and breathing and that they all needed to figure out why he was there to begin with.


	8. Chapter 7

“I can’t believe you made me do this!” Sehun whined for the third time since they set out from the school. Baekhyun mimicked him in a baby voice and Minseok sighed, trying once more to get the pair to stop bickering for just two seconds before all of them blew a fuse.

The air was beyond tense. Junmyeon was still practically fuming, his hand held tightly around a flashlight. Jongin was walking stubbornly in front of them all, leading the group and refusing to look back in case any of them decided to ask some question he didn’t know the answer to.

  
He hoped Kyungsoo would be quick to find, and that he wouldn’t be too put off by the size of the group. But then again Kyungsoo seemed to have gotten quite comfortable with him and Jongdae yesterday and their presence in the group would sure calm him. Jongin was certain of it.

He could always try the room Kyungsoo had showed them yesterday if he didn’t find him in the corridors. If he wasn’t there, then surely that’s where he had to be hiding. That or deeper in the factory but if Jongin were to be honest he didn’t actually dare go any deeper into the maze of corridors, afraid of both what he could find and the thought of not finding his way back again.

After all, if they didn’t find Kyungsoo then nothing said that Kyungsoo could find them, meaning that they had no one to lead them out of the many corridors in case something went wrong. No, it was better to stick to safe routes and hope for the best than to risk it and maybe have to regret it for the rest of his life.

The heavy iron doors appeared in front of them and Jongin felt a small smile quirk in the corner of his lips at the thought of seeing Kyungsoo again.

The group suddenly froze as the handle pushed down and the door started swinging forwards. Jongin felt his breath catch in his throat, staring at the heavy metal swing outwards. A moment later Kyungsoo appeared, pushing the heavy door. He looked up, owl eyes meeting Jongin’s before landing on the group of people behind them.

Junmyeon let out a cry of shock and Kyungsoo scrambled backwards, eyes impossibly wide as his trembling arms pulled at the door. Jongin leaped forwards, grabbing the door just inches before it could close and forcing a foot in between the door post and the metal, making sure it couldn’t close.

“Wait Kyungsoo. We’re here to see you.” He called, trying to peer into the darkness on the other side of the door. Invisible hands pulled at his clothes but Jongin refused to budge, reaching in between the door and grabbing hold of Kyungsoo’s arm. Suddenly the pressure of the door pulling inwards increased two-fold and Jongin let out a cry.

“Stop. Kyungsoo we’re not going to hurt you.” He groaned, feeling the other pull at his arm in an attempt to get free.

“Jongin get out of there.” Minseok called, stepping forwards and grabbing his hoodie. Jongin shook his head, looking back over his shoulder to where his group of friends were still staring in shock at what was happening.

“They can’t-” Kyungsoo gasped from the other side of the door, barely loud enough for Jongin to hear it and Jongin turned his attention back towards the struggling boy.

“Kyungsoo. They’re safe I promise. They-” Something clicked in his brain, the words Kyungsoo had spoken yesterday replaying in his mind. “They’re not going to tell anyone about you. We can still be a secret.” He promised, feeling himself grow slightly desperate.

“Right?” He turned his head around again, looking back against his group of friends. “Promise him you’re not going to tell anyone about him.” Jongin called.

“Jongin...” Sehun said softly.

“Promise!” He ordered, feeling his fingers start to slip around the fabric of Kyungsoo’s sweater.

“I promise. I won’t tell anyone about you!” Jongdae called loudly, loud enough for it to be heard on the other side of the door.

“Me too!” Chanyeol joined in, wincing as Baekhyun slapped him but still continuing. “I promise not to tell anyone. Ever!”

The others quickly joined in and Jongin felt the pressure decrease on the door until it was just the press of gravity holding it in place. Kyungsoo stilled on the other side of the door and Jongin turned his head towards the gap, seeking out those large eyes on the other side.

They all stood frozen for a moment, nothing but Jongin’s heavy breath audible in the small forest clearing around the door, and then a force stronger than any Jongin had felt before pulled him through the gap and the door closed with a thud behind him.

Hands grabbed the back of his hoodie and Jongin was turned around, facing the door as it was pulled open by a frantic Minseok and Junmyeon.

“You okay?” Minseok asked, taking a step forward. Jongin nodded, feeling the hands twist in the fabric of his hoodie and realizing that Kyungsoo was hiding behind him. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the boy peek at the group moving in through the door with apprehensive eyes.

“Hello again.” Jongdae waved happily, the first one to collect himself after the situation that had just passed.

“Hello.” Chanyeol followed, bowing slightly. Yixing did the same, smiling softly at Kyungsoo who was still hiding behind Jongin like some sort of shy child.

“I can’t believe he’s real.” Junmyeon breathed and Baekhyun nodded, both of them staring at Kyungsoo with large eyes. The boy slowly stepped out from behind Jongin but one of his hands remained fisted in his hoodie.

“Hello.” He greeted in a low voice, bowing slightly. He looked up at Jongin as if seeking guidance and Jongin smiled down at him, turning towards the rest of the group with a clearing of his throat.

“Everyone, this is Kyungsoo.” He said, gesturing towards the smaller male. “Kyungsoo, this is everyone.” He swept his hand towards the group now instead. “That’s Junmyeon, Minseok, Baekhyun, Jongdae you know already, Sehun, Chanyeol and then Yixing.” He introduced the group and Kyungsoo nodded slightly behind him.

“I can’t believe he’s real.” Junmyeon repeated, eyes wide as they stared at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo shrank back under his gaze, still uncomfortable with the attention and the size of the group.

“Uh, I’m sorry for pushing you. Like, that night when...uh.” Chanyeol started, ruffling his hair before shrugging his shoulders. The sentence was left unfinished, hanging in the air awkwardly between them.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.” Kyungsoo replied, his hand twisting once more in Jongin’s hoodie. Jongin slowly reached behind him and grabbed the hand, letting the fingers curl around his wrist instead. He was surprised at how rough the skin on Kyungsoo’s hands were, calloused as if he had spent every day working with them.

“It’s okay.” Jongin spoke, sending a look to the rest of the group who nodded. It wasn’t Kyungsoo’s fault, he had only tried to get them out of there after all.

“Why did you try to get us out of there anyway?” Baekhyun asked loudly. “Jongin told us you guided us out of the factory? Why?” He continued, staring at Kyungsoo with expectant eyes.

“It’s a secret.” Kyungsoo replied, just as quizzically as the last time he had given the same answer.

“That’s no real answer.” Sehun whined.

“Yeah.” Baekhyun agreed. “What kind of secret? C’mon, tell us Kyungie.” He urged and Jongin felt Kyungsoo’s fingers tighten around his wrist.

“It’s a secret.” Kyungsoo repeated.

“Come on, just a little hint.” Baekhyun begged and Chanyeol joined in, a large smile on his lips. Kyungsoo twisted behind Jongin and the taller looked down, seeing a stressed frown form on Kyungsoo’s face as he squeezed the wrist in his grasp.

“It’s- it’s secret.” He repeated, his voice wavering and Baekhyun and Chanyeol resumed their begging, Jongdae joining in this time around with a happy smile, the group getting closer to Jongin and Kyungsoo.

“Hey, guys.” Jongin spoke, feeling the strange electricity fill the air again and suddenly the whole factory floor was alive with movement. The lamps groaned as they swung from the ceiling, the dried leaves rattling against the floor and one of the barrels fell over in the corner, the metallic clang echoing through the large room.

The group immediately stopped their begging, jumping in surprise and looking around themselves before turning to Kyungsoo with a look of horror. Jongin turned around, shielding Kyungsoo from their looks as the boy shook, looking around himself frantically.

“Hey, calm down Kyungsoo.” Jongin spoke softly, grabbing the free hand which twitching next to his side. As their fingers touched one of the crates shattered, crushed by an invisible force. Cries of shock filled the room and Jongin tuned them out, focusing on making Kyungsoo calm down before things got even more out of hand.

“Kyungsoo, hey. Look at me.” He spoke softly and those large doe eyes met his, barely controlled panic flickering beneath the brown irises. Jongin adjusted his grip on Kyungsoo’s hands, rubbing his thumbs over the shaking knuckles and trying to remain calm himself.

“Calm down. We’re not going to make you say anything. Just calm down.” He spoke slowly, nodding softly at Kyungsoo who squeezed his eyes shut with a grimace before forcing a slow breath out between his trembling lips. Jongin gave his hands a squeeze, feeling the other’s fingers squeeze back.

Slowly the building stopped moving, leaves stilling and the groaning above them quieting. Kyungsoo was still huffing out slow breaths, looking like every single one was a struggle but his hands had stopped shaking and Jongin could feel the air around them return to normal.

“What was that?” Minseok whispered, his voice still loud in the quiet left behind after things calmed down.

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin answered, turning slightly to look at the group. They all stared back at them, necks craning to look at the smaller male.

“How do you do that?” Baekhyun asked, raising up on his toes to get a better look at Kyungsoo.

“I think you’ve asked enough questions for today.” Jongin said pointedly and Baekhyun shrank back, an embarrassed blush slowly creeping up his cheeks.

“Oh, right.” He mumbled, bringing his shoe down on one of the leaves littering the factory floor. Next to him Chanyeol snickered and the shorter sent him a glare, shutting him up.

“How about we do some people watching?” Jongdae suggested, slapping Sehun on the back of the head when the youngest opened his mouth to protest. Jongin nodded, turning back to Kyungsoo with a smile.

With a lick of his lips Kyungsoo agreed, pulling his hands out of Jongin’s grasp and quickly making his way towards the corridor. The rest of the group followed, Jongin falling back to answer some of the whispered questions the others had.

They spent an hour with Kyungsoo, most of them growing bored of people watching after only minutes of doing it and instead spent the time chatting or looking at their phone. Jongin spent the entire hour next to Kyungsoo though, listening to the stories he would tell about the people walking past or the houses you could see from the window.

* * *

They continued to visit Kyungsoo after that, most of them only joining once or twice but Jongin making sure to come by at least once every week end, spending the day up in Kyungsoo’s hideaway and talking about whatever he could think of.

It didn’t take long for him to learn that Kyungsoo was actually quite talkative, if you just knew how to talk to him. He had much to tell, stories collected during the time he had stayed hidden in the factory and many questions about the world outside the concrete walls. Jongin was more than happy to indulge and as time passed, they left people watching behind to play games with the others, talk about anything their minds could conjure up or watch series on Jongin’s phone, a pair of headphones shared between them.

Jongin quickly learned that there were some subjects that were strictly off limits. Questions about Kyungsoo’s background, why he was in the factory or his abilities were shot down either by complete silence or the words Jongin had grown to despise.

_‘It’s a secret’_

Despite having spent almost a month regularly meeting up with Kyungsoo he felt no closer to finding out the answers to the questions that still plagued him. The more he got to know of Kyungsoo the more the pile of questions grew. The way his temples always seemed to have fresh bruises on them, barely hidden beneath the short-trimmed hair. The way the ring of bruises around his neck would return, looking red, raw and like a collar of pain against the pale skin of Kyungsoo’s neck. How he would insist on them leaving the moment night fell. How he had refused to let Jongin enter the factory the one weekday he had showed up to find Kyungsoo outside the factory walls. The way he, just last week, had noticed a pair of thin grey, metallic bracelets circled each of Kyungsoo’s wrist, a ring of bruises matching the one on his neck hidden beneath his sleeves.

But he held his questions back, holding back his curiosity for the sake of Kyungsoo’s comfort. He let the smaller male go on and on about the stories of the people in the village or the changes he had seen through the years, not commenting on the fact that Kyungsoo’s tales stretched years into the past.

The group of friends all had different theories of Kyungsoo was there to begin with, none of them having made any headway more than mere speculations and observations. Baekhyun insisted that he was an alien, eagerly backed up by Jongdae, but other than that most theories consisted with Jongin’s about how Kyungsoo was one of the victims of the human experimentation. The biggest divide in opinion cantered around the fact weather Kyungsoo was experimented on because of his abilities or if he got his abilities because of the experimentation. Jongin belonged to the latter category simply for the fact because then he wouldn’t have to explain where the abilities came from in the first place.

Jongin turned over in his bed, the light from his phone screen illuminating his face. He was scrolling through yet another useless feed of forum comments in his search for answers regarding Kyungsoo. He had recently started searching for records of people with abilities like Kyungsoo’s, or any abilities for that matter. He came up short of any results with any sort of real backing.

There were plenty of stories about people finding individuals with superhuman abilities but most of them were either pure fiction or stories passed along from their brother’s friend’s grandpa’s neighbour’s niece who saw it happen once in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere where no one had ever been able to find anything of the sort ever again.

That and many, _many,_ obviously faked videos on YouTube.

He opened up another blog about the supernatural claiming they had real, scientific proof and started scrolling, his eyes skimming through the long sections of text. With a sigh he realized that this one too specialised in shock value over actual facts and liked publishing short stories written by the many subscribers.

He had made the mistake of reading into those short stories a few weeks ago and could feel a chill run up his spine as his mind conjured up the villain from one of the many stories. The goat man he had been called and despite the silly name Jongin still felt fear coil in his stomach at the memory. The creature who could disguise themselves as anyone, hiding in plain sight and slowly taking over identity after identity made his skin crawl.

He turned back over, too unnerved not to have full sight of the room, and let his eyes flicker over their bedroom. Chanyeol was sleeping soundly in his bed and Jongdae was scrolling through his phone in the bottom bunk, a bored expression on his face. He knew Sehun was laying in the bunk above his, the youngest not having gone back down again after he went up there for the night.

“Hey.” He called quietly, putting down his phone. On the other side of the room Jongdae hummed, eyes still trained on the phone in front of his face. “Hey!” Jongin repeated, louder this time and Jongdae looked over, his eyebrows raising in silent question.

“I’m gonna go visit Kyungsoo tomorrow. Wanna join?” He asked. The other pursed his lips, thinking about the suggestion before answering with a curt nod.

“Alright.” Jongdae mumbled into the night and Jongin nodded, shuffling under the covers as he tried to get comfortable. Winter was slowly taking over from the chill of autumn and despite being well looked after the school still couldn’t keep the cold from seeping into the stone walls. He was going to need another blanket if it continued to be this cold.

“Last time I came over on a weekday he wouldn’t let me into the factory.” Jongin mumbled, looking at Jongdae with tired eyes. The odd behaviour was still nagging him, making him wonder why Kyungsoo had been so set on not letting him enter. He had seemed almost panicked when Jongin had appeared, nothing like the warm smiles Jongin usually received when the shorter male spotted him.

“Probably because his spaceship was in there.” Jongdae replied, giggling at the tired look Jongin sent his way. Jongdae had never once offered a serious theory to the case that was Kyungsoo. It was probably for the best though, that one of them kept the situation from turning too serious.

“You know I heard voices in there the first time I visited on my own.” Jongin said and at this Jongdae lowered his phone. “Like, someone else's’ voices.” He explained.

“Really?” The older asked and Jongin nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t think Kyungsoo’s alone. And I think those voices are the reason we have to remain a secret.” He said and Jongdae frowned, thinking over the theory.

“Could be.” He agreed. “I mean it doesn’t sound too farfetched.” He stared up at the bunk on top of him for a moment. “But who would they be? More experiments?”

“I don’t think so.” Jongin replied. “I mean if they were why would Kyungsoo keep them hidden. I think they’re the people who experimented on-” Jongdae’s sudden hushing stopped him and Jongin frowned, looking over at the other.

“What are-” Jongin started but was once again cut short by a harsh shush from the other.

“Did you hear that?” Jongdae asked, looking at Jongin with wide eyes. Jongin rolled his eyes, too tired to indulge Jongdae in his trolling.

“Real funny Hyung.” Jongin sighed and Jongdae shushed him again, shaking his hand as if he could erase the words from the air.

“Listen.” He hissed and Jongin sighed, shutting his mouth to allow Jongdae to continue with whatever cheap joke he had come up with this time.

A low groan filled the room, the sound of rusted hinges moving hitting their eardrums. Jongin immediately felt his heartbeat speed up, his eyes widening as the sound paused for a moment before starting up again.

His eyes met Jongdae’s from across the room and the two of them silently sat up, Jongdae twisting to put his feet on the floor but Jongin staying cuddled up in the bed. He raised his eyebrows towards Jongdae in a silent question and Jongdae shrugged his shoulders.

Jongin let his wide eyes sweep over the room, first going to the door and half expecting to see the twisted figure of one of his friends haunting them. The door was as firmly shut as it had been when Chanyeol had closed it for the night, not even the handle moving. He moved to look towards Chanyeol on the bed next, wondering if maybe the sound of him moving was what they were hearing but the boy was still sleeping soundly, nothing moving except the slow rise and fall of his chest.

With his breath stuck in his throat he turned to the window next, seeing it slowly swing open as if moved by an invisible force. The same window they had tried so hard to open to get some fresh air into the room but had been forced to give up on due to the rusted hinges and swollen wood.

“Oh fuck.” Jongdae whispered. Jongin raised a hand, hoping the boy would get the hint and shut up. Whatever it was that was moving the window did not need to know that they were in there.

A long moment passed, both of their eyes strained on the window as it opened another few inches before coming to a halt. The cold night time breeze danced into the room, rustling the covers and chilling Jongin to the core.

Nothing.

No more sound, no more opening of the window. Jongin shifted, hand still held out to stop any more noises coming from Jongdae. With careful movements he stood up, slowly moving his hand to his lips in a sign for Jongdae to keep quiet, and moved towards the window. He knew that anything could be hiding behind the ledge, waiting for his hand to reach out and grab the handle, but he also knew that he’d rather risk closing it than having whatever could be waiting for them have full access to the room.

He reached out, his hand surprisingly steady as it moved towards the handle, and then a pale hand grasped the window sill. Jongdae let out a cry and Jongin quickly grabbed the window and shut it, pinching the hand which let go and slipped out through the crack with a small yelp.

A very familiar sounding yelp.

“Fuck!” Jongdae spat and Chanyeol woke up, his head hitting the low ceiling and making a dull thud echo through the dark room. Jongin quickly stepped forwards, pushing the window open again and looking down towards the ground.

  
“What are you assholes doing!?” Chanyeol groaned loudly, a pillow hitting Jongin in the back a moment later as he stared down at the ground. He could hear Sehun whine behind him and Jongdae’s voice frantically asking him why he wasn’t closing the window.

“Kyungsoo?” He asked, looking down at the figure sprawled out beneath the window.

“Kyungsoo?” Jongdae echoed and Jongin felt himself get wrestled to the side as the other peeked out through the open window.

Kyungsoo looked up at them, his hand clutched towards his chest. Jongin felt a sheepish grin spread over his lips at the look of anger in Kyungsoo’s eyes.

“Sorry. Uh....Kinda thought you were a goat man or something.” He spoke as an explanation, reaching out his hand for Kyungsoo to grab.

“Goat man?” Chanyeol repeated behind him but Jongin ignored it.

Kyungsoo stood up, his hand still protectively held towards his chest as he raised the other towards Jongin’s outreached one. Their fingers interlocked and Kyungsoo placed his foot against the stone wall before pushing up, raising through the air as if weighing nothing.

Jongin moved back, pushing Jongdae away from the window as Kyungsoo’s head appeared over the window sill, and allowing the other to crawl through the open space.

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asked once Kyungsoo’s feet were safely on the floor of their bedroom.

“I figured I could visit you instead of the other way around.” Kyungsoo explained, rubbing his hand softly. Jongin could see two of the knuckles had split from the force and felt guilt bubble up inside of him.

“Sorry.” He whispered, gesturing quickly to Kyungsoo’s bruised hand. The shorter looked up at him with big eyes. “Your hand. I’m sorry.” Jongin clarified and Kyungsoo’s lips quirked up into a shy smile.

“It’s nothing.” He said, pulling the sleeve of his shirt down to hide the bruised skin.

“Hey, not to break up your moment of anything. But next time you could like knock or something instead of doing the whole ghost haunting thing.” Jongdae said from behind them and Jongin jumped away from Kyungsoo.

“Ghost haunting?” Kyungsoo asked, a frown on his face.

“Yeah, half the students here are convinced there is something haunting the place.” Jongin explained, sitting down on his bed. Kyungsoo slowly followed, hesitating for a moment before sitting down next to Jongin.

“Why?” He asked.

“Because people are bored.”

“Because it is.”

Jongdae and Chanyeol said at the same time and Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at the responses. Chanyeol was the first one to rush into an explanation.

“The whole town is haunted. It’s from the first invasion of the Japanese and the slaughter of the villages. And then there was the students who killed himself in the bathroom on the third floor. People say they had been possessed by one of the spirits and that’s why they did it.” He said quickly and Kyungsoo nodded slowly. “And the factory, where you live, is the most haunted place. It rests upon a burial place so that’s why.”

“Or.” Jongdae cut in before Chanyeol could continue. “It’s because students like to tell ghosts stories and spread rumours way too much.” He said and Kyungsoo’s eyes slid over to him instead.

“Why?” He asked and Jongdae licked his lips, looking for the words.

“Because it’s fun. I mean. I love ghost stories but just because they’re good doesn’t mean they’re true.” He said the last part pointedly, not so subtly looking up at Chanyeol. The taller student only rolled his eyes in reply.

“Why?” Kyungsoo asked again. Jongin turned to look at him, trying to figure out the emotion hiding behind the big brown orbs.

“Why what?” Jongdae asked, letting out a short snort that Jongin recognized as annoyance.

“Why do you tell ghost stories?” Kyungsoo clarified, his eyes drilling holes into Jongdae. The other opened his mouth, looking at Jongin for help.

“Because it’s fun.” Jongin supplied and Kyungsoo’s eyes turned to him instead. “It’s fun to be scared. And a lot of people like scaring other people.”

“It’s fun to be scared?” Kyungsoo repeated, frowning at Jongin with something that looked slightly like hurt in his eyes.

“It’s not real fear.” Jongin quickly backpedalled, turning more towards Kyungsoo who visibly turned away from Jongin. “It’s playing pretend that something is out to get you but actually you’re safe the whole time. That’s why people like it. They can experience something without any real consequences.” He explained and Kyungsoo nodded minutely, fiddling with a loose thread on his jeans.

“I see.” He whispered. Jongin swallowed, suspecting he had accidentally poked a wound he didn’t know existed. He looked over at Jongdae and Chanyeol for help. Chanyeol only gave him a wide eyed stare in return and Jongdae pretended to be too interested in anything other than Jongin to notice him.

“The factory isn’t haunted.” Kyungsoo said before the silence could grow too strained.

“What?” Jongdae said, suddenly very interested in what was happening on Jongin’s side of the dorm.

“The factory isn’t haunted. I’ve never noticed anything strange in there.” Kyungsoo continued, still pulling at the thread on his jeans. Jongin could see a brief tremble run through the fingers but decided not to mention it.

“Uh...I wouldn’t really put not strange and the factory in the same sentence.” Chanyeol said, letting out an awkward laugh as if he had made a joke. Kyungsoo looked up at him with curious eyes. “I mean you’re from there.” Chanyeol blurted out and Jongin felt his eyes widen, quickly looking over at Kyungsoo to see what the reaction would be.

Chanyeol seemed to have realized what he had said a moment later because his eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open as he spluttered out a half assed apology.

Kyungsoo didn’t seem to be offended by the words though, and if he was he hid it well. Instead a small smile was playing on his lips. Jongin drew in a short breath, trying to find the right question to ask to find out why he was looking like that.

  
“What are the ghost stories about?” Kyungsoo said before Jongin could put his plan into motion and after a moment of hesitation Jongdae started retelling the story about the student in the bathroom.

Kyungsoo hung on to each word, his wide eyes glued to Jongdae as he took in each and every word. Jongin found himself paying more attention to cataloguing every small change in Kyungsoo’s expression instead of listening to the actual story. He didn’t seem to be scared by the story, instead seeming confused and puzzled over it. His fingers kept playing with the loose thread, slowing down as Jongdae neared a climax in the story and speeding back up as he got over it.

When the story was over the only question Kyungsoo had was why people believed in something like that if there was no proof of it. Jongdae hesitated for a long moment, stealing glances at Chanyeol as if silently asking him something.

  
“Because the ghost sometimes gets spotted.” He explained. “Junmyeon has seen it, among others. They say it’s a pale boy with large eyes staring at them from within the forest behind the school.” He paused for a moment, looking over at Kyungsoo before diverting his eyes as if in shame. “They know it’s him because of the ring of bruises around his neck.” He finished.

Jongin saw the moment Kyungsoo realized what they were talking about. His fingers stilled in his laps, his eyes widening for a fraction before his hand flew up to gently touch at his neck.

“They’ve seen me?” He whispered and Jongdae nodded.

“No one knows it’s you Kyungsoo.” Jongin said carefully, not missing the way Kyungsoo’s were slowly starting to fill with panic. “They don’t know you’re real. No one’s going to tell on you.”

“But they’ve seen me.” Kyungsoo whispered. Jongin reached out to grab one of Kyungsoo’s trembling hands only to have his hand slapped out of the air by an unseen force.

“They don’t know you’re real. It’s good that they think you’re a ghost. Then, if they ever see you, they’re not going to question who you are.” He said, grabbing the covers instead of Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I should go.” Kyungsoo said, standing up.

“Really, Soo, it’s fine.” Jongin insisted, standing up too. He didn’t want Kyungsoo to leave. He didn’t like him spending time in the factory despite knowing that’ the one place Kyungsoo called home. Haunting or not, the factory wasn’t a good place.

But Kyungsoo was already climbing out of the window, Jongin’s tries to get him to stay falling on deaf ears. Jongin reached out to grab hold of Kyungsoo’s hand as the small frame slipped out of view but the window slammed shut with such force it made Jongin flinch back.

“Great!” He snapped, turning around to Jongdae who frowned at him for a moment before his mouth fell open in shock.

  
“What did I do?” He challenged. Jongin rolled his eyes.

“You know how he doesn’t like being seen. You’re lucky if we ever see him again.” Jongin hissed and Jongdae let out a snort.

“It’s hardly my fault. I just answered his questions. Chanyeol was the one who called him strange.” He argued and Chanyeol let out an offended sound from his place on the top bunk.

“You could have worded it better.” Jongin argued, turning away from the window and sitting down on his bed.

“How?!” Jongdae asked, staring at Jongin with a demanding look. Jongin only sighed, laying down on his bed with his back to Jongdae. The other mumbled something under his breath and Jongin could hear the rustle of blanket as the other settled in for the night.

He curled in on himself, wondering how to repair the crack Jongdae’s revelation has caused in the shaky foundation he had built with Kyungsoo over the last few weeks.


	9. Chapter 8

As it turned out, he didn’t have to do anything. Kyungsoo was back at the dorm three days later, no indication that he bore any distrust over what had happened last time. This time it was early enough for them all to be awake and out in the common room.

Kyungsoo coming to see them became the new routine after that, the boy showing up at their dorm starting to happen more and more often. Sometimes he would be there when they got back from their classes, sometimes he wouldn’t show up until late at night, Jongin only noticing him by the dipping of his mattress, but most of the time he would show up after dusk, a knock from inside their empty bedroom ringing out in the common room and signalling his arrival.

Just like back at the factory Jongin was the one who spent the most time with him. They spent their days quietly conversing about anything Kyungsoo was willing to open up about. Jongin had quickly learned that Kyungsoo preferred listening over talking, gladly letting Jongin blabber on about whatever was on his mind. And when Jongin wasn’t talking Baekhyun and Chanyeol gladly filled his spot, their innate chatter filling the dorm.

Despite it being clear that Kyungsoo got more and more comfortable around them Jongin still couldn’t get him to open up about anything related to the factory or his past. It didn’t matter if it was just the two of them or everyone else in the room. It didn’t matter if it was the middle of the afternoon when they were giggling about whatever the rest was up to or if it was the middle of night with Kyungsoo almost asleep cuddled up next to him. It didn’t matter if it was direct questions or carefully planned out traps to make lure Kyungsoo into telling him _anything_. The short male still danced around the questions with such practiced ease that Jongin was starting to suspect he would never find out anything.

At least he had managed to get out of Kyungsoo why he had started coming to the dorm instead of letting Jongin visit him. _It’s safer_ Kyungsoo had cryptically answered and Jongin got the sneaking suspicion that it was Jongin’s safety Kyungsoo referred to instead of his own.

A commercial telling them about the newest Idol’s newest single played on the television, signalling the end of whatever variety show had been playing Jongin was sitting on the couch, his eyes trained on his phone and Kyungsoo’s head resting against his shoulder. Next to him sat Yixing staring tiredly at the tv screen and Sehun had taken over the armchair, headphones in his ears as he played some sort of game on his phone. Junmyeon, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were sitting by the benches to the side, occupied with studying for their upcoming English test.

“It’s not fair!” Baekhyun whined for the third time that night, sending a pout Yixing’s way. “How come you’re so much better at English than us?” He asked and Yixing looked up with a surprised expression.

“Because I studied more than you.” He answered matter of factly. Baekhyun's face fell and Chanyeol burst out into giggles at the shorter’s pouting. Yixing sent them a smirk before going back to his phone, ignoring Baekhyun’s hushed mumbles about how the Chinese government put something in the water that made the kids better at English.

Silence lowered over the dorm once more and Jongin sighed, looking over at Kyungsoo who looked second away from falling asleep from boredom. Jongin spent half a second contemplating on whether or not joining him would be a good idea before deciding that waking up the shorter was probably best for both of them.

He shrugged his shoulder, making Kyungsoo’s head slip off and forwards before the other straightened with a jerk and a dizzy expression. Jongin held back a giggle, all too aware of Kyungsoo’s glaring eyes.

“Sorry.” He mumbled and the other pinched his thigh, making him twitch. With a pout he looked over at Kyungsoo who broke out into a wide grin, making a new giggle bubble up out of Jongin.

Another giggle reached his ears and Jongin turned around, seeing Chanyeol with a hand clasped over his mouth and his finger inches away from Baekhyun’s neck. He quickly jabbed the digits into the other’s neck and Baekhyun twitched, slapping Chanyeol’s hand away from him. The two mouthed something to each other and then Jongin could see Baekhyun’s sock clad feet furiously rub against the rug under the table before the shorter poked Chanyeol’s finger, the two of them twitching and giggling

Junmyeon hushed them a moment later and Jongin felt Kyungsoo’s hand curl around his bicep as the other leaned forwards to see what was going on. Baekhyun and Chanyeol broke into giggles again, hurriedly whispering something to each other. A moment later both of them were working their feet back and forth against the rug, mischievousness glinting in their eyes.

“Yah!” Junmyeon let out a yelp as both Baekhyun and Chanyeol shocked him with the static electricity they had built up. “What the f-!” He turned towards the culprits who roared with laughter, catching the attention from everyone else in the room.

“What’s going on?” Sehun asked, pulling out an earphone.

“Come over here.” Chanyeol gestured and Sehun hesitantly got up, watching as Chanyeol recharged the static electricity once more. “Come.” He called, gesturing and failing miserably at hiding the glee in his voice.

Sehun eyed him carefully, sending the group on the couch a look before moving forwards and reaching out with his hand towards Chanyeol’s outstretched finger. The moment they touched Sehun jumped and Jongin burst out in laughter. The rest of the dorm followed, even Kyungsoo joining in with shy giggles.

“You dipshits!” Sehun cursed but the amused smile on his face revealed how he was actually feeling. “How do you do that?”

“Rub your socks on the rug.” Baekhyun said proudly, once again furiously moving his feet over the floor. “And after a while you ha- ah!” He jumped as Junmyeon jabbed his finger in Baekhyun's exposed arm.

“Like that.” Junmyeon said proudly ignoring how Baekhyun was glaring at him.

“I wanna try.” Jongin said, raising from his position on the couch and moving towards the rug. Jongdae quickly joined him, giggling madly as he tried to shock Chanyeol without the other shocking him in return.

Yixing and Kyungsoo remained seated on the couch, watching the scene play out in front of them with amused expressions. Kyungsoo even went so far as to egg on Baekhyun and Jongdae when they had Jongin trapped and were repeatedly shocking him.

“What is it?” Kyungsoo asked happily once the group started to calm down a little. Every pair of eyes in the room was suddenly turned towards Kyungsoo who remained just as oblivious to the mischievous glint in those eyes.

“Static electricity.” Yixing answered and Kyungsoo nodded slowly.

“What’s that?” He asked and Jongdae broke out into a wide grin.

“Come here.” He said, gesturing to Kyungsoo who smirked back and shook his head.

“Just tell me.” He said, clearly not going to fall for the same thing as Sehun.

“It’s harmless.” Junmyeon explained and Jongin nodded. “I’ll show you.” Junmyeon held out his hand for Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo moved to stand up but hesitated clearly apprehensive of the touch. He had seen how the others had reacted and was no idiot.

“Promise you it’s nothing dangerous.” Junmyeon said, flicking his hand to beckon Kyungsoo over. The smaller stood up and walked over with a curious smile, carefully holding out his hand.

What followed next was too fast for Jongin to follow and when it was all over it was already too late. One second Junmyeon was moving forwards to grab Kyungsoo’s wrist and the next a loud bang echoed through the room the air was filled with enough electricity to have Jongin’s hair stand on end.

Junmyeon was pressed up against the wall, his body suspended in the air by some unknown force. Opposite him was Kyungsoo, hand held out in front of him and eyes black. The arm of his shirt had risen up, showing the silver bracelet he seemed to always be wearing and the ring of purple, angry looking bruises decorating his wrist.

Yixing was the first to react, letting out a string of Chinese as he moved towards Junmyeon. A second later the whole dorm was up in arms, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongdae letting out cries with a mix of fear and excitement and Minseok and Sehun moving over to Junmyeon. Jongin blinked, looking at the situation in front of him. His eyes flickered between Junmyeon and Kyungsoo before he moved towards Kyungsoo, hands held out peacefully in front of himself in case Kyungsoo would spook again.

“It’s okay. You can let him down.” He said, trying to sound as calm as possible. Kyungsoo paid him no mind, continuing to stare at Junmyeon who was still suspended on the wall.

“Seriously Kyungsoo. Let him down.” Minseok said, standing in front of the boy on the wall and trying to figure out a way to get him down off the wall. Jongin saw him try to pry the other’s fingers from the wall but the task seemed impossible.

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin gently called, taking another step forward but just as before he didn’t get any reaction. “Kyungsoo.” He tried again, louder this time. Still no reaction.

“Oh oh oh it’s not working.” Yixing said, anxiously hovering behind Minseok who was now pulling at Junmyeon clothes without any effect. “I don’t think he can breathe.” Yixing added, joining in with the pulling. Jongin turned his eyes towards Junmyeon who was starting to grow pale, his chest compressed to such a level it looked painful.

“Fucking stop.” Sehun spat, turning towards Kyungsoo who was still staring at Junmyeon with fire in his eyes. “I said _stop_.” Sehun moved forwards, arms raised as if ready to push Kyungsoo. The black eyes locked in on Sehun and the next second, he was thrown across the dorm, landing in a heap in the corner.

“Fuck!” Jongdae gasped, backing away from the whole situation at the same time as Baekhyun hurried over to Sehun. The smaller only managed to get a few feet before he too got thrown across the dorm, apparently too close to Kyungsoo for the boy’s comfort.

“Do something Jongin.” Minseok called, panic in his voice. Junmyeon was starting to grow blue, his eyes filled with fear. Jongin looked between the pair, feeling powerless. He turned towards Kyungsoo, taking another step forward and opening his mouth. The next moment the world tipped upside down and his side collided painfully with the table Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been using to study just minutes earlier.

He coughed, looking up at Kyungsoo. The smaller’s eyes were now flickering around the room and never staying longer than a moment on any target. His entire frame was shaking, the hand stretched out in front of him trembling with such force it was almost a blur. He must be scared Jongin realized, probably just as scared as any them.

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin called, coughing again as he tried to push himself up. Kyungsoo’s eyes actually flickered towards Jongin this time, holding his gaze for half a second before once more starting to flicker around the room. “Kyungsoo you have to stop.” Jongin forced out, still struggling to draw enough air in his lungs.

“Jun!” Minseok gasped and the sound of a heavy body hitting the ground filled the room the next moment. Jongin looked behind himself, seeing Junmyeon laying on his side on the floor, chest heaving with each breath. He turned back towards Kyungsoo, seeing the other still hold his hand out in front of himself but by now it was shaking so violently it almost looked like he was waving it.

“Soo?” Jongin asked just as the other’s eyes rolled back in his eyes, knees giving out before he collapsed to the floor. His head hit the floor with a loud thunk, his hands not having come out to protect from impact. The shaking didn’t stop, only increasing in intensity the more seconds passing.

“Fuck.” Jongdae cursed again and Jongin struggled to get to his feet, not liking the way Kyungsoo’s head kept banging against the floor.

“Kyungsoo. You okay?” He asked, hovering uncertainly over the shaking figure on the floor. He had never seen anyone have a seizure before and had no idea what you were supposed to do. Shouldn’t you put something in their mouth so they didn’t bite their tongue off.

“Who cares about him.” Sehun spat from where he was untangling his long limbs and getting his feet back under himself. Jongin ignored him, too occupied with trying to make sure Kyungsoo didn’t hurt himself. He looked around himself, quickly snatching a pillow that had fallen on the floor with the intent of putting it between Kyungsoo and the floor. As he reached under the back of the smaller’s head the force of which Kyungsoo’s skull collided with his fingers had him holding back a curse. He quickly slid the pillow in place and set to take hold of Kyungsoo’s hands which had been spasming against Jongin’s chest as if reaching out.

“Is he okay?” Jongin turned towards the hoarse voice asking the question. Junmyeon was sitting up, supported by Minseok. The colour had returned to his face and he had stopped coughing.

“I don’t know.” Jongin said, his voice cracking as he turned back to Kyungsoo. The shaking showed no signs of stopping and Jongin didn’t like the way the drool seeping out of the corner of Kyungsoo’s lips were turning pink. “Are you okay?” He asked, turning away from Kyungsoo for a second.

“Yeah, fine.” Junmyeon brushed the question away, shaking his head as Sehun protested. “Yixing you should go help them.” Junmyeon added, gesturing towards Kyungsoo and Jongin. Yixing hesitated for a moment before scooting over, looking just as clueless as Jongin but the younger appreciated the support.

He squeezed Kyungsoo’s hands in his, trying to ignore the way they were twitching and bent closer to Kyungsoo. Opposite him Yixing was gently wiping the drool away from Kyungsoo’s cheek with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Hey Soo. It’s okay. We’re here.” Jongin whispered, squeezing the hands in his once more. He had no idea if Kyungsoo actually understood anything he was saying or if he even knew Jongin was there, but the words worked to comfort himself just as well.

“Do you know anything about seizures?” He asked Yixing who was gently trying to pull the neck of Kyungsoo’s sweatshirt down so it wouldn’t choke him.

“Only that you have to wait them out.” He said, looking up at Jongin with surprisingly calm eyes. “And that you shouldn’t put anything in a seizing person’s mouth. They might choke.”

Jongin nodded, happy he hadn’t gone through with his first his first hunch and stuck a pen between Kyungsoo’s teeth.

Thankfully the seizure only lasted about half a minute longer before the spasming muscles started to relax but those were the longest 30 seconds of Jongin’s life. Kyungsoo came out of the seizure bit by bit and by the time he had regained control over his muscles the rest of the dorm had calmed down and gathered around.

“Soo?” Jongin asked, still holding on to the smaller’s hands. Kyungsoo blinked, his chest still shuddering with each breath. A long second of silence passed between them before a sob broke through Kyungsoo’s lips. “Oh, oh no.” Jongin quickly pulled Kyungsoo forwards, propping him up against his shoulder.

“Is he okay?” Chanyeol asked, reaching out and gently rubbing Kyungsoo’s back. Jongin could hear the smaller whimper before shaking with a new set of sobs. Jongin nodded, one of his hands coming up to cup Kyungsoo’s head.

“I think he just needs a moment.” He said, gently scratching the nape of Kyungsoo’s head like his mother always used to do before he grew old and boring. Kyungsoo let out a new wave of sobs, the fabric of Jongin’s shift growing wet with tears.

“Maybe he should lay down a little?” Minseok suggested. Jongin nodded, agreeing that it was probably a good idea. With the help of Chanyeol Jongin slowly moved a crying Kyungsoo towards the bedroom. The smaller’s muscles were clearly still exhausted from the seizure as he could barely hold himself upright, and once they sat him down on the bed he immediately collapsed down on his back.

Chanyeol left them alone after making sure Jongin could handle it, leaving Jongin holding a crying Kyungsoo against his chest, trying to figure get him to calm down. Thankfully the crying seemed to be more of a physical reaction to everything that had happened than a sign of Kyungsoo being in pain, but it still made Jongin’s heart ache whenever another sob would pass over the smaller’s lips.

“Why would Junmyeon do that?” Kyungsoo forced out in a shaky voice after a few minutes, still struggling to draw a full breath.

“It wasn’t on purpose.” Jongin defended softly. “He didn’t mean to scare you. It was supposed to be a fun prank.” He explained, pushing Kyungsoo’s sweaty bangs out of his forehead.

“He- it-.” Kyungsoo forced out between sobs and Jongin quickly hushed him, pulling him closer against his chest. Kyungsoo whimpered, hands fisting in Jongin’s shirt. “It’s what _they_ do to me.” Kyungsoo spoke thickly, breaking down into another fresh wave of tears.

This had Jongin stopping, arms loosening around Kyungsoo as he took in the information. Junmyeon had done what _they_ do. They had to be the people that Jongin had heard back at the factory. Did that mean that they hurt Kyungsoo. That those marks came from...

“Do they shock you?” Jongin asked, pulling back to look at Kyungsoo. His face was covered in a mixture of snot, drool and tears, his whole body clammy with sweat and the sight had Jongin heart ache. He can’t even begin to imagine what must be going on inside Kyungsoo’s head right now.

“Yes.” Kyungsoo nodded, sniffling and sucking in another short breath. “They-they-they-” He hiccupped and Jongin quickly shushed him, rubbing his back softly as he tried to get the other to calm down. He should probably leave the subject of what happened back at the factory alone, it seems to only be upsetting Kyungsoo more. But at the same time this is the only time Kyungsoo’s ever offered up any information about what goes on there.

“Just breathe Kyungsoo.” Jongin whispered, adjusting himself so he was laying down on his back, Kyungsoo tucked into his side.

“Here.” Kyungsoo said, sucking in a deep breath and holding up his wrist. The bruises were clearly on display and Jongin felt his stomach twist. He gently grabbed Kyungsoo hand, lowering it again but Kyungsoo snaked it out of his grip a moment later. “He-he-here.” Kyungsoo’s body shuddered, his hand landing on his neck and the now greening ring of bruises decorating it. Jongin shushed him, turning over on his side again when Kyungsoo’s crying grew stronger. Wordlessly Kyungsoo’s hand landed on his temples, marking the last set of bruises and Jongin pulled the smaller against his chest, muffling the new wave of sobs.

“I’m sorry Kyungsoo.” He mumbled, his own voice shaking. He felt sick. How could anyone do that to another human being. And it must have been going on for quite some time judging by the way Kyungsoo hadn’t shown any reaction to his bruises before today.

  
It made sense that he would react so strongly to the static shock Junmyeon had given him, especially considering it landed on his wrist. But what still had Jongin worried was the seizure that had followed the whole ordeal. Was that something that happened often? He hoped not. Kyungsoo had seemed terrified during the seizure and didn’t appear to be much calmer now.

“Do you... have you ever had a seizure before?” Jongin asked, voice barely above a whisper. Kyungsoo shuddered in his arm, coughing slightly as he nodded in reply. Jongin patted his back, trying to sooth as best as he could. So far he felt like he was doing the worst job possible.

“I’m su-su-su-su-” Kyungsoo’s chest jumped as he tried to suck in a breath deep enough for him to talk. “Supposed to have one af-af-af-af-after.” He explained, sniffling weakly. Jongin tightens his arms around the smaller once more, trying to process what he had been told. Supposed to have a seizure. So, he was shocked back at the factory with the purpose of giving him a seizure. What kind of purpose could that ever have?

“You don’t have to talk about this.” Jongin said softly, loosening his grip slightly. Answers be damned, right now Kyungsoo needed to calm down. “Just focus on breathing instead. Okay.” He says, stroking Kyungsoo’s hair and allowing the smaller to wipe his face on his shirt.

Fifteen minutes later Kyungsoo is fast asleep in his arms, having cried himself into exhaustion.


	10. Chapter 9

Electroshock therapy. That’s what they’re doing to Kyungsoo. Except they must be doing it wrong because it’s not supposed to leave you with bruises. It’s supposed to be harmless, or at least modern electroshock therapy is. When it first came around it wasn’t. Then the electricity used was too strong and could leave you hurt. So why is that kind still used on Kyungsoo?

Jongin rolled over in his bed, scrolling through the google search page once again and trying not to let his eyes catch on the black and white pictures of people strapped to chairs with electrodes stuck to their temples. He couldn’t help but imagine Kyungsoo in the same position, terrified as some men in lab coats surrounded him.

He shuddered, quickly pressing the home button and rolling over onto his back. The bottom of Sehun’s bunk was staring back at him and Jongin sighed, feeling small and powerless. He had to help Kyungsoo. He absolutely had to. But he didn’t know how. Kyungsoo wouldn’t tell him anything that could help him with saving him, so he had no idea what he was up against.

He picked up his phone again, opening up his contacts and letting his fingers hover over his brother’s number. He hadn’t called Jonghyuk in almost a month and he felt kind of bad calling him only to get advice about something else. But Jonghyuk always had something smart to tell him whenever Jongin was troubled.

He pressed the dial button and held his phone to his ear, biting his lip as he waited for his brother to appear on the other line.

“Hello?”

“Hyung! It’s Jongin-ah!” He said, feeling some of the tension disappear from his shoulders at the sound of his brother’s voice.

“Lil bro! How you doing? School’s alright?” Jonghyuk asked, voice happy. Jongin smiled, sitting up and pressing the phone closer to his ear.

“It’s okay. We had an English test last week and I think it went well.” Jongin admitted and Jonghyuk hummed in interest.

“Awesome.” Jonghyuk commented and Jongin made a noise of agreement. A silence stretched between them and Jongin fiddled with a loose thread on his sweats. “Is there any reason in particular you’re calling?” Jonghyuk asked, his voice filled with concern and Jongin felt his heart clench in longing for his brother.

“Well...yeah.” Jongin admitted. “There is this uh, question I guess?” He said, biting his lip as he waited for his brother’s response.

“Let’s hear it.” Jonghyuk answered and Jongin took a deep breath. He couldn’t really tell his brother about Kyungsoo. He had promised the other to keep him a secret after all and in all honesty, he was afraid Jonghyuk wouldn’t believe him. But he needed advice.

“Well um... do you know what electroshock therapy is?” He asked carefully.

“Yeah, sure. What about it?” Jonghyuk asked.

“Let’s say someone has superpowers. Like...I don’t know they can move things with their mind or something.” Jongin cleared his throat. “Why would electroshock therapy be helpful for them?”

“Uh.” Jonghyuk let out a short laugh. “That’s an oddly specific question you have there, buddy. Has something happened?” He asked and Jongin ransacked his brain for a good reason behind his question.

“It’s uh... there was this show on tv the other night and they shocked the superhero and said that it would be good for him and uh...” Jongin trailed off, shrugging a little as he waited for his brother’s reply.

“Are you okay Jongin?” Jonghyuk asked, sounding concerned. Jongin bit back a curse, hating how his brother always saw right through him.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just. It hasn’t been able to leave my mind.” He answered, hoping it would be enough. It wasn’t a lie exactly. Kyungsoo’s seizure had been on his mind since it happened two days ago.

“You’re not having nightmares again, are you?” Jonghyuk asked and Jongin rolled his eyes.

“I’m not 8 anymore.” He muttered and Jonghyuk laughed on the other side of the line. “Just answer my question.”

“Alright, alright, Nini.” Jonghyuk quieted for a moment before answering. “If I’m not mistaken the shocking works to like make persons have seizures and that like relaxes the brain or something. I don’t know if scientists even know if it works but that seem sorta logical.” Jonghyuk drew a deep breath. “Anyhow I guess if you had like telekinesis it would make your powers stronger probably? Like if your brain gets more relaxed and can therefore run faster your powers are better.”

Jongin could almost hear his brother shrugging on the other line and nodded. It kind of made sense but just like Jonghyuk he couldn’t really tell definitely if that was the case. I guess no one could.

“Is it dangerous?” Jongin asked, thinking back to Kyungsoo seizing on the floor.

“No.” Jonghyuk answered confidently. “Not today at least. I mean it can be if you do it incorrectly but that applies to like everything so no. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.” Jongin nodded, not feeling entirely convinced. He chewed his lip, thinking of how to phrase is question. “What would happen if it went wrong?”

“Oh god Jongin. You’re really deep into this huh?” Jonghyuk commented and Jongin let out a noise of protest. Couldn’t he just answer the stupid question. “I don’t really know though. Like I guess uncontrolled seizures are never good. I know that’s why like people with epilepsy have to get medicated but like... I guess brain damage and burns from the electricity and stuff.” Jonghyuk answered.

Jongin hummed, thinking back to Kyungsoo’s bruises. They always looked so painful and raw, like they were never older than a few days old. Only the one’s around his neck faded a little from time to time.

“Are you sure you’re okay Jongin?” Jonghyuk asked, breaking the silence. Jongin jerked, having been too deep into his memories.

“Yeah, yeah sure.” He quickly assured his brother.

“You know you can tell me anything. I won’t tell mom or dad. You know that right?” Jonghyuk said slowly and Jongin felt his lips quirk up into a smile. He and Jonghyuk had always been close but over the past few years they had grown even closer. He would trust anything with Jonghyuk. Well almost anything. And he knew that no matter what Jonghyuk would always be there for him.

“I do.” He answered truthfully. “I’m fine. I just needed someone to talk to.” He said

“Well. In that case I’m glad you called. Even if was just for some weird superhero questions.” Jonghyuk teased and Jongin let out a whine, threatening to hang up. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop. Just know that if you have other weird questions you can always call.”

“I know.” Jongin sighed, smiling broadly. “Bye Hyung.”

“Bye, Nini. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Jongin mumbled, hanging up the phone and letting it drop down on his bed. While he hadn’t really gotten an answer to his questions he was at least not quite as much in the dark as before.

Now he just needed to find out more about the factory and where Kyungsoo were spending his days. But that would have to wait until tomorrow. He sighed, quickly plugging his phone into the charger before rolling over on his side and crawling up under the covers. The image of Kyungsoo’s terrified eyes, seeking his, as the other seized on the floor, flashed in his mind for a moment before Jongin pushed it out of his mind and forced himself to go to sleep.

He decided to ask Kyungsoo about it. Maybe now that the other had started opening up, he would finally answer some questions. But that turned out to be harder than he had first expected. The days kept passing, and there were no signs of the other. No knocks on their bedroom window, or Kyungsoo waiting for him after class, or slipping into his bed.

A week passed. It got to the point where the rest of his friends started asking, Baekhyun asking him about where Kyungsoo had gone, Jongdae offering up the half serious theory about Kyungsoo having to return to his home planet for the space holidays, and even Junmyeon worriedly asking if Jongin had seen Kyungsoo.

The other had told Jongin he didn’t blame Kyungsoo for what had happened, especially not after hearing what Kyungsoo had revealed to Jongin that night, but Jongin still felt guilty about the whole ordeal. Like he somehow should have known. He should have figured it out! He had seen those bruises on Kyungsoo’s temples so many times over, and now that he knew where they were from it was all so obvious.

If he had just done some research and figured out that Kyungsoo was being treated with shock therapy, he would have known that exposing the other to shock wasn’t a good idea. If he had just tried a little more, Junmyeon wouldn’t have to go around with a huge bruise covering his chest.

He had apologized to Junmyeon, but the other had just pushed it away, repeating that no one could have known, but Jongin _should have_ known. And now he couldn’t even apologize to Kyungsoo.

“Dude. I’m sure he’ll come around soon.” Chanyeol said, looking down at Jongin from his bunk bed. “Maybe he’s just been really busy.” The other student offered, making Jongin roll his eyes.

“Busy with what?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at Chanyeol who shrugged again.

“I don’t know. Maybe he has finals to deal with too?” Chanyeol said and Jongin rolled his eyes again, picking up his phone. “Hey! I’m just trying to cheer you up. You really haven’t seen him for over a week?”

“Nope.” Jongin replied, opening up his twitter and absently liking whatever memes Sehun had retweeted.

“He’s not even in the factory?” Chanyeol asked and Jongin stilled, eyes wandering over to his friend.

“I haven’t been in the factory.” He admitted and now it was Chanyeol’s turn to raise his eyebrows at his friend.

“Well, I figured since he always comes here nowadays, he would...” Jongin mumbled, shrinking a little under Chanyeol’s gaze.

“Go see him now. I can join you if you want.” Chanyeol suggested, pushing himself up to sitting in his bunk. Jongin blinked, looking at the clock. It was just a little after 7pm, so he had plenty of time to head over to the factory and back.

“Yeah...” He nodded, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up. “I, I kinda want to go alone though, if that’s okay?” He asked, looking up at Chanyeol who just shrugged, laying down in his bed again.

“Alright, don’t stay out too late. I don’t want to have to explain to Junmyeon that we’ve lost you inside the factory, _again_.” He said, giving Jongin a stern look to which Jongin only replied with a tired look of his own.

With a promise to be back soon he grabbed his jacket and shimmied out of the window. Ever since Kyungsoo’s first visit the window had been easy to open, the other having pulled it loose from where it had been stuck.

The air was cold around him, winter break was only a week away, and the first snow was soon to come. Jongin stuffed his hands in his pockets and set off toward the forest and the factory, his breath misting in front of him with each exhale.

He hadn’t been out here in the dark for a long time, not since their first visit, and despite the path being familiar there was something about this walk that unnerved him. The trees seemed much taller, their branches hanging over him like long fingered hands trying to catch him. The shadows seemed darker, like sunlight hadn’t shone upon the ground for years. And the factory, it loomed higher than ever, its dark window like dead, black, eyes.

He by the time he reached the heavy iron door he was shivering. With frozen fingers he grabbed the handle, groaning as he pulled. It was heavier than her remembered, and as he stepped inside, he realized he had forgotten his flashlight.

For a moment he was submerged in complete darkness, a darkness so black it felt impregnatable, but then he managed to open up his phone and turn on the built-in flashlight. He shone it over the familiar factory floor, finding the three cups still stacked on the lamp and the two sets of doors leading further into the factory. They were all closed now.

Jongin made his way over to the one leading into the corridor, holding back the urge to turn around every two seconds to make sure he wasn’t followed. As he opened it, he cautiously called out Kyungsoo’s name, waiting for a second to see if the other would appear.

Nothing.

He stepped inside and followed the corridor. On the floor were muddy footprints from heavy boots, Kyungsoo’s, and Jongin decided to follow them. Even though they weren’t fresh they might lead him to where the other was hiding.

Just like he suspected they lead him through the door into the little side corridor, and up the stairs. As he walked the darkness seemed to press closer to him, his small phone flashlight doing little to light up the desolate walls.

Finally, he reached the door leading into Kyungsoo’s small hideout. He stopped with his hand on the handle, hesitating for a moment. Slowly, he pressed his ear against the door, trying to hear the other on the other side... Nothing.

He pushed the handle down, opening the door and peaking inside. A gasp reached him, a pair of owl eyes meeting him, and relief immediately filled Jongin’s system.

“Kyungsoo.” He said, stepping up to the other who was curled up in his armchair, his arms wrapped around himself protectively.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo asked, straightening up. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.” He said quickly, standing up and beginning to push Jongin toward the exit.

“I came to apologize.” Jongin said, pushing Kyungsoo’s hands off of himself. Kyungsoo froze, looking at the other with wide eyes.

“You came to what?” He asked, his eyes disbelieving.

“I came to apologize, for what happened with Junmyeon. I shouldn’t have let him scare you like that. I should have figured out that you were undergoing ECT and that shocks might be scary for you. I should have known all of that-” Jongin began, shaking his head as he talked.

“ECT?” Kyungsoo interrupted, brows furrowing as he looked at Jongin.

“Electroconvulsive therapy. The shocks.” Jongin gestured to the other’s temples and Kyungsoo jumped back, his arms immediately wrapping around himself.

“I... don’t.” He shook his head, eyes flickering up to Jongin for a brief moment before looking back down at the floor. “I- It was my fault. I should. I _need_ to control my power- myself better.” He mumbled, stumbling over his words.

“No. No this isn’t your fault Kyungsoo.” Jongin said, taking a step closer and having Kyungsoo take one back. The other was shaking his head.

“I, I _hurt_ him. I could have killed him! I’m a monster Jongin.” Kyungsoo’s voice was rising in pitch as he talked and word by word that electricity was filling the room, tickling Jongin’s skin. “You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t! I might hurt you too I-” Kyungsoo pressed his hands to his eyes, pushing hard enough it had to hurt.

“Kyungsoo, hey.” Jongin took a step forward, trying to catch the other’s attention. “It’s okay. He’s okay. He’s forgiven you. He knows you didn’t mean to. We all know you didn’t mean to.” He said softly, inching closer and closer until he could reach out and carefully wrap his hands around Kyungsoo’s.

“It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. I should have never let you come here. I should have scared you away. It’s all my fault.” Kyungsoo mumbled, not listening to Jongin at all. Jongin hushed him, slowly pulling his hands away from his eyes and rubbing his thumb along the palm to get them to relax.

The energy in the air sparked around them, the whole room in motion for half a second, before it all stilled. Kyungsoo was trembling in his hands, his eyes screwed tightly shut and his jaw clenched so hard it had to hurt.

  
“It’s not your fault. And I’m glad you didn’t scare me away.” He said, still rubbing his thumb over Kyungsoo’s palm. It slowly relaxed in his grasp, allowing Jongin to interlace their fingers. “I got worried when you didn’t show up. I thought I had done something wrong. I thought... I thought something had happened to you.” He admitted.

Kyungsoo’s eyes slowly blinked open, shining as they looked up at Jongin. He looked so young like this, scared and lonely. How many years had he spent in the factory without anyone to spend his days with? How many people had he seen walk past the window, oblivious to the lonely soul sitting inside? How many people had he scared away before he allowed Jongin to get close to him?

“I thought you didn’t want to see me again.” Kyungsoo admitted, his voice horse. Jongin blinked, trying to catch Kyungsoo’s flickering gaze.

“Why wouldn’t we want to see you again. You’re our friend.” Jongin said and the electricity and the air spiked again, pushing down on Jongin for half a second as Kyungsoo’s eyes screwed shut.

“I hurt you. I hurt you all. I am a monster. You shouldn’t be friends with me.” Kyungsoo replied, trying to pull away from Jongin’s grasp but Jongin tightened his grip, making sure Kyungsoo couldn’t get away.

  
“Let me be the judge of that.” He spoke, pulling Kyungsoo closer with a tug and quickly wrapping his arms around the other in a hug. Kyungsoo stiffened, the electricity in the air making the hair rise on Jongin’s arms. “And I don’t think you’re a monster. You could never be a monster.”

Kyungsoo let out a small sound, his arms slowly coming up to embrace Jongin in return. Little by little the electricity lessened in the air until Kyungsoo had fully relaxed in his arms. Jongin gave him another squeeze, making sure his friend knew it was all alright, before stepping away.

  
“You okay?” He asked and Kyungsoo gave a nod, even braving a small smile. Jongin smiled in return, gesturing with his head toward the chairs. “Let’s watch something before I have to go back.”

“Alright. Something short. You should head back soon.” Kyungsoo said, crawling back into his worn armchair as Jongin settled into the office chair and pulled out his phone. He let Kyungsoo chose what to watch, the other choosing a baking video on YouTube that Jongin didn’t find very interesting but Kyungsoo seemed to really enjoy.

They ended up watching another after that, and then one more, until Jongin was almost nodding off in his chair, his eyes burning as he tried to focus on the woman mixing together a sponge cake for the third time, when Kyungsoo suddenly stiffened and the air around him turned thick.

  
“No.” Kyungsoo whispered, tearing the headphones out of his ears and quickly shaking Jongin. Jongin blinked, groggily looking around himself as Kyungsoo got to his feet, his fingers twitching as he looked between the door and Jongin.

“Hide!” He grabbed hold of Jongin’s jacket, invisible hands joining in and tearing Jongin from the chair. Jongin gasped, struggling to keep upright as the door of a cleaning closet flew open with such force it almost came loose of its hinges.

“Hide!” Kyungsoo repeated. “Please. Please don’t- don’t say anything. Be really quiet and wait for us to leave.” He pleaded as he forced Jongin toward the cleaning closet. Jongin frowned, trying to stop and ask Kyungsoo what was going on but the many invisible hands tearing at his clothes and pushing on him made it impossible.

“Why?” He asked as his cell phone flew into his hands. “What’s going on Kyungsoo? Why do I need to hide?”

“Quiet!” Kyungsoo hissed, giving him the final push into the cleaning cabinet. “Please. Please be quiet. Be my secret. Please.” He pleaded, his voice pained. The invisible hands had left Jongin but Kyungsoo’s was still on him, pushing against his chest weakly. “Please, wait until we’ve left. Please.”

Jongin nodded, and instantly the door closed in his face, submerging him in darkness. He swallowed, trying to get his bearings around him. The cabinet was barely large enough for him to stand upright in and he could feel its walls press against his arms. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the moment.

He could hear Kyungsoo, the other’s footsteps and then the sound of a body sinking into something soft, presumably the armchair, before silence fell over the room. Jongin wet his lips, barely daring to breathe as he listened for any clue as to what was going on. _Wait for us to leave_ Kyungsoo had said. _Us_. Not him, not them, us. What had he meant by that?

The answer came a second later when the sound of a door opening reached Jongin. He could hear a group of people step into the room, making him stiffen and hold his breath.

“Come on.” A voice said. It came from a man, someone older than Jongin and Kyungsoo, but more than that Jongin couldn’t tell. “It’s time.”

He could hear Kyungsoo get out of his armchair, could hear the man comment something about how Kyungsoo was going to play nice with them tonight, and then the footsteps started leaving the room. Slowly, the door swung shut, clicking as it closed, and then silence.

Jongin let his breath go, his chest aching as he struggled to return to his normal breathing pattern. The silence was somehow louder than the man’s voice had been, pushing over him like a blanket.

He licked his lips again, trying to moisten his dry mouth. His fingers were aching from how hard they were holding onto his phone, and every joint in his body felt locked in place. Well, that at least answered the question on whose voice he had heard during his first visit, and who _them_ were. But it didn’t instil any peace inside of him. Instead it had only filled him with more worry. Worry about Kyungsoo and what could be going on, about where the bruises around his neck came from, and where the secrets came from.

He ended up staying in the cleaning cabinet in silence for 15 minutes before he dared to move again, and the moment he left the factory he sprinted the whole way home, scared that the voice he had heard earlier would call out for him next, bring him back into the factory, and put him through the same horrors as Kyungsoo.


	11. Chapter 10

Kyungsoo came to visit the next day, a bright smile on his lips and a set of angry bruises around his neck that only made the worry grow inside Jongin. The electroconvulsive therapy was one thing, whatever was happening to his neck and wrists to cause such bruises was another.

It made whatever happiness Jongin felt at seeing Kyungsoo return to their dorms give way to a gnawing worry. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it he couldn’t stop staring at the way the bruises around Kyungsoo’s neck was branching out, following the veins like lightning. His hands couldn’t stop reaching for the bracelets around Kyungsoo’s arms whenever the other sat next to him. And his mind couldn’t stop dissecting every word that left the other’s lips, searching for any clue as to what had happened last night.

“Would you stop it!” Kyungsoo finally snapped as Jongin reached for wrist again, fingers having barely snaked under the opening of his sleeve. Jongin blinked, having barely realized himself what he was doing.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, shame filling him. He didn’t mean to make Kyungsoo uncomfortable. He just wanted to see if the bruises on his wrists were as angry as the ones around his neck. He had never seen the bruises around his wrist be anything except deep purple and aching, but most of the time they were hidden under Kyungsoo’s sleeves.

Kyungsoo didn’t reply, instead pulling knees up and sandwiching his hands between his legs and chest.

“What are the bracelets even for?” Sehun asked from his seat in the armchair, eyes bored as he watched the drama on the tv. When Kyungsoo didn’t answer his head rolls over to look at the smaller, eyebrows arching in interest.

Kyungsoo pointedly ignored him, eyes aimed toward the tv but Jongin could tell they weren’t really watching.

“Are they a part of the ECT?” Jongin asked, making the rest of the students in the dorm perk up. While they all knew what Kyungsoo had told him the night of the seizure, and the conclusions Jongin had drawn from the reveal, none of them knew that Jongin had confronted Kyungsoo about it the night before.

  
“It’s a secret.” Kyungsoo replied, pulling his knees closer to his chest.

“Do they have to do with the bruises on your neck?” Jongin continued. He had tried being subtle, he had tried coaxing and tricking Kyungsoo into telling him. But he had never confronted him fully, never asked outright.

“It’s a secret.” Kyungsoo repeated, shoulders hunching up.

“Jongin.” Junmyeon said from the tables, his voice holding a note of warning. The memories of the night of the seizure were still strong.

“Do _they_ give you them too?” Jongin pressed on, ignoring the way the tension was rising in the room. “You told me they did. You told me they shock you on you wrists, your neck and your temples. Only your temples can be for ECT, so why do they shock the other places?”

“I told you it’s a secret.” Kyungsoo said, his voice weak. He was slowly curling up tighter and tighter. Jongin felt guilt stab in his chest. He didn’t want to cause Kyungsoo more pain, but more than anything he wanted the pain to stop. If he knew what was going on, then maybe he could help. If Kyungsoo could just tell him.

“Does it have to do with your powers?” Jongin asked, voice gentler. “They said you needed to behave.”

This had Kyungsoo suddenly look up at him, his eyes wide in shock.

“You shouldn’t have come.” He said, looking away again. A fine tremor was running through him, fear building in his eyes. But there was no electricity sparkling in the air. “I shouldn’t have come.” Kyungsoo continued, fingers coming up to fist in his short hair. “I shouldn’t have come. I should have scared you away.”

His voice was barely a whisper, as if he was talking more to himself than anyone else. His fingers flexed in his short hair, butt of his hand pressing into the fading bruises on his temples.

“Tell me what’s going on, Kyungsoo.” Jongin whispered, trying to catch Kyungsoo’s eyes. The large orbs were wet, unshed tears swimming in them. Kyungsoo’s breath shuddered with every inhale, his jaw clenched tight.

“I can’t. I can’t Jongin.” He whispered. “Oh god. I shouldn’t have let you get this close. I should have scared you away. I shouldn’t have. God.” He whimpered, eyes pressed shut, words wet.

“You can.” Jongin insisted, reaching out to place a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. The other’s chest jumped with a harsh sob, his body curling up even closer.

“You don’t understand.” He bit out. “You don’t understand. It has to be a secret. It _has _to be.” Every word was pained, forced out between barely suppressed sobs.

“We’ll keep it a secret.” Jongdae offered, the other having turned around from his spot on the floor. “Just like we kept you a secret. It can be a part of your secret, Kyungsoo.”

“No!” Kyungsoo gasped, hands pressing even harder against his temples. “No, no, no, no.” He shook his head, another sob escaping his clenched teeth. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Just tell us. I’m sure you’ll feel better then.” Jongin said, reaching out toward Kyungsoo’s hand to lessen the pressure. It must hurt, pressing against his bruises like that.

“NO!” Kyungsoo screamed as Jongin’s hand closed over his.

As if kicked in the face Jongin flew backwards. He toppled over the arm of the couch, his legs coming down against his chest and painfully knocking the wind out of him.

Next to him the coffee table flew into the wall, as if slung by an unseen force. The next moment the glass shattered on every single painting hung on the walls, shards raining down on them. He could hear the others scream followed by the sound of more bodies hitting the floor.

One of the heavy oak tables careened, rising up on two of its legs before slamming back down an inch away from Baekhyun’s head.

As suddenly as it has begun it all stopped. In the middle of it stood Kyungsoo, his eyes black, his chest heaving with each breath. A tremor ran through his body. A moment later the tremor was mirrored by the room, sending dust dancing in the air once more.

Jongin coughed, struggling to right himself. Pain bloomed in his wrist, sharp and deep, and when he looked down he could see his arm curve in a way he was sure it wasn’t supposed to.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo’s voice was quiet, hesitant. Another tremor ran through the room. “Baekhyun? Sehun?”

With a wince Jongin managed to pull himself to sitting, his chest aching from having the wind knocked out of him and his wrist throbbing in time with his racing heart.

“I’m sorry.” Kyungsoo whispered. The couch shook. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” His eyes had returned to normal, but the sign of him still had Jongin flinching. From the corner of his eye, a drop of blood was blooming. With a blink it was set loose, trailing down Kyungsoo’s cheek and leaving a stain of the reddest red Jongin had ever seen behind.

A sob escaped Kyungsoo, his hands coming up to grasp at his temples again.

“I’m sorry.” His voice broke, a pained whine escaping it, before the door to the bedroom flew open, breaking free from the top hinge, and Kyungsoo fled the room. A moment later Jongin heard their bedroom window bang open.

The silence that were left in his wake was ice cold, as if the winter from outside had already stolen away the heat. Jongin slowly pushed himself up on his feet, seeing the rest of his friends do the same around him.

Minseok was clutching at his side, pain apparent on his face. Baekhyun was still on the floor, body shaking as he stared at the heavy oak table. Chanyeol and Jongdae were at his side, their gentle words and comforting touches doing little to calm him. Sehun was hiding behind the armchair he had been sitting in, the piece of furniture having been flung into the corner of the room. Junmyeon and Yixing were holding onto each other, eyes uncertain as they sought out Jongin’s.

“Everyone okay?” Jongin asked, cradling his broken wrist against his chest.

“No, I’m fucking_ not_!” Baekhyun cried. Jongdae gave Jongin a small thumbs up behind Baekhyun’s back and mouthed _we just need a moment_.

“You okay, Jongin?” Minseok asked, voice hoarse. Jongin nodded, moving to give Minseok a thumbs up as well but the motion had pain shooting up his arm, making him bite back a groan.

“Your wrist.” Sehun said, stepping out from behind the armchair. “He broke it.”

“It’s fine.” Jongin mumbled, looking down at his wrist. It was beginning to swell, the skin feeling tense and stretched around the break.

“You need to go see a doctor.” Junmyeon said, walking up to Jongin and reaching out for his arm before stopping himself. “The school nurse should still be here. We’ll go there.”

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Jongin shook his head, looking off to the bedroom. “Kyungsoo, he, he didn’t mean to. It’s okay.”

“Like hell it isn’t!” Baekhyun spat, pushing Jongdae out of the way as he shakily got to his feet. “He has _NO_ control over whatever the fuck those powers are! He hurt you! He nearly killed me! He was _seconds_ away from suffocating Junmyeon! He’s a fucking monster!”

“He’s not!” Jongin replied, looking at Baekhyun with shocked eyes. The other couldn’t honestly believe that. He couldn’t believe Kyungsoo was a monster. He couldn’t! “He’s just scared!”

“For how long?!” Baekhyun growled. “For how long will he be ‘just scared’? Hmm? Until he hurts someone for real? Until he _kills_ one of us?”

“He wouldn’t do that!” Jongin shook his head, not understanding how Baekhyun could say such a thing.

“How do you know?! You don’t even know why he’s in that goddamn factory! You don’t know anything about him!” Baekhyun moved forward but Chanyeol stopped him, stepping out into his path and placing a hand on his chest. When Baekhyun slapped it away the taller shook his head.

“We’re going to the nurse.” Junmyeon said, taking hold of Jongin’s unbroken arm and pulling him out of the dorm before he could protest.

Their walk was silent, the clicking of their shoes echoing against the heavy stone walls. The corridors were dark, shadows following them as they took the stairs up to the second floor. Jongin was shaking, from cold or shock he didn’t know. He couldn't get the image of that lone drop of blood sliding down Kyungsoo’s cheek. A mockery of crying.

“You don’t agree with him, do you Myeon?” Jongin asked when the silence became too much to bear.

Junmyeon opened his mouth, but hesitated.

  
“You think he’s a monster?!” Jongin tore his arm out of Junmyeon’s grip.

  
“No!” Junmyeon replied immediately, shaking his head. “I don’t.” He licked his lips, pausing for a moment to gather his words. “I agree with you. I think he’s scared. But...” He sighed, his eyes avoiding Jongin’s. “What if one day, he can’t stop. What happens then?”

“What do you mean?” Jongin asked, feeling his stomach knot.

  
“Both times this has happened, he has stopped before...before anyone got seriously hurt. What if one day, he doesn’t.” Junmyeon explained.

  
“You don’t seriously think he would ever do that.” Jongin said, frowning at his friend.

“I don’t know.” Junmyeon shook his head. “I mean, I don’t think he wants to hurt anyone but... I don’t know.”

“So we’ll just abandon him then or what?” Jongin pressed, trying to ignore the way his insides were slowly being eaten away.

  
“No!” Junmyeon shook his head again. “No, not that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I just-. I think we shouldn’t ask about what happens with him in the factory anymore, or anything that has to do with his secret.” He finished.

“So, we’ll just let whoever gives him those bruises continue?” Jongin asked.

“Maybe it’s for the best?” Junmyeon said, his hand coming up to rub at his chest. “Maybe, they’re helping him. ETC is a treatment after all. It’s very helpful in some cases I’ve read.”

Jongin blinked, finding himself unable to say anything in reply to that. Junmyeon couldn’t seriously think that whatever was happening Kyungsoo was for the best. He, he just couldn’t.

“Come on Jongin, the nurse.” Junmyeon spoke after a moment of silence.

Jongin didn’t say anything more as they continued their walk to the nurse’s office.


	12. Chapter 11

Coming up with an excuse for what had happened with his arm has been difficult. Coming up with an excuse for what had happened to the dorm had probably been even more so. Jongin wouldn’t know. He didn’t come up with either. Junmyeon had said something, something about Jongin falling off the couch, and when Jongin was allowed to return to the dorms the morning after everything had been cleaned up again. The door was back on its hinges and the oak tables once again stood in their right place. The only sign that something had happened were the lack of glass in the picture frames.

That, and the knot in Jongin’s stomach that didn’t seem to go away.

It followed him like the cold, seeming to sit in his very core. Anytime he thought of it, it coiled tighter around itself, and when he tried to forget it made itself reminded with a dull ache in his middle.

He knew what it was about. But he didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to acknowledge that such a thing should be thought about.

Baekhyun had apologized to him the evening after Kyungsoo’s visit, saying how he didn’t mean what he had said. He had just been scared, and worried for Jongin. They were all always so very worried. Worried for Jongin.

Worried about Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun’s apology had been sincere, but Jongin could still see in his eyes what he wasn’t saying. That he thought the same thing as Junmyeon. That he too wondered what would happen the day it wasn’t fine anymore.

What would happen the day Kyungsoo lost control.

The ache grew even more intense after that. It seemed to seep into the rest of his body, making his joints grind against each other and his head throb. Like a cold it drained him, made it hard to focus on anything other than the black hole in his middle.

Anything other than the fact that maybe, just maybe, Baekhyun and Junmyeon were right to worry.

He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it. He _couldn’t_ think about it. How could he? He knew Kyungsoo wasn’t dangerous. He had stood by this opinion since the very beginning, and he couldn’t stop doing it now.

It wasn’t fair to Kyungsoo. It was obvious he was scared. He had always been scared. From the very, very beginning. And he _trusted_ Jongin. He trusted him with his little people watching place, with his presence, with for once in his life not having to be scared.

If Jongin thought he was dangerous, he would betray that trust. He would ruin their friendship. Jongin didn’t want that. And most of all. He didn’t want Kyungsoo to be scared!

The only reason he was asking so many questions, was trying so, _so_ very hard to find out what the secret was, was so he could make sure Kyungsoo didn’t have to be scared anymore. Because that was what friends do. They help each other.

If he believed he was dangerous, then he would have to follow Junmyeon’s advice and stop asking him questions about the factory, and the secret. Then he would give up on helping Kyungsoo. He couldn’t do that. He _couldn’t_.

No matter what, he couldn’t. He couldn’t stop helping Kyungsoo, even if that meant the other might be uncomfortable with his questions at times. Even if it meant that his powers flared up at times. Even if it meant Jongin would get hurt in the process.

The image of a lone tear of blood making its way down Kyungsoo’s cheek flashed before his eyes again. His arm throbbed.

But...how hurt would he get. How much could Kyungsoo hurt. How far could he go. How much control could he lose?

No! No, he couldn’t think like that! He couldn’t! Kyungsoo was not dangerous, and that was that. No and, if, or, but. Kyungsoo was _not_ dangerous.

“Mr Kim?”

Jongin looked up, realizing he had completely missed the past 10 minutes of class.

  
“Yes teacher.” He replied, blinking as he tried to focus on the blackboard.

  
“Are you alright? You look pale.” His teacher said, walking up to him and placing a cool hand on his forehead. “You’re a little hot.”

“I’m fine.” Jongin said, struggling to pull away from the hand.

  
“I will be the judge of that. And I say no. Return to the dorms. I’ll write you up as sick for the day.” She declared before gesturing dismissively toward the door.

Jongin sighed, slowly starting to pack away his pens and notebook. Deep inside, he felt grateful though. He felt wrung raw, and he longed for a good nap and not having to think about Kyungsoo for just one second.

Getting his casted arm through the loop in his backpack when it was already on his shoulders was a bigger struggle than he had the energy to deal with right now, and he settled for just having it slung over one shoulder.

As he exited the class, Sehun sent a look after him, worry clear in his eyes. Jongin gave him a weak smile, not wanting to worry even more people. He was sick of people worrying for him. He was sick of wondering if they were right to worry about him.

The moment he stepped into the dorms he let his backpack drop to the floor and made a beeline toward the bedroom door. He just wanted to sleep until winter was over, and all his problems had solved themselves.

“Jongin?”

Kyungsoo’s quiet voice startled him.

  
There, curled up on his bed, sat the other boy. His eyes were wide, full of fear, and the bruises on his neck had taken on a deep purple colour, the edges a sickly green, in the four days he hadn’t seen the other. The ones on his temple were red and raw. They always seemed to be

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin stopped by the door, the knot in his middle making itself known once again. “What are you doing here?”

“I had nowhere else to go.” Came Kyungsoo’s whispered reply. He looked so small, so fragile on the bed. His frame was trembling, the fingers of his hands oddly tense where he pressed them against his chest.

“What do you mean?” Jongin asked, walking up to the bed and sitting down. Kyungsoo bites his lips, his face a pained expression for a long moment as the silence stretched out between them.

  
“I don’t want to anymore.” Was all he replied, his voice hoarse with unshed tears. The smaller shook his head, his fingers twitching against his chest.

“Want to what?” Jongin asked, inching closer. Only once before had Kyungsoo offered up information, during the night of the seizure. But Jongin suspected, both then and now, that it hadn’t been completely voluntary. A shock response more than anything.

But now, now Jongin finally had the opportunity to find out what was truly going on with the other. All doubts he had had the past few days fell away as Kyungsoo’s gaze met his, those wide eyes screaming for someone to help him.

“I don’t want to help them anymore.” He whispered, words so quiet they were barely audible despite Jongin sitting no more than a foot away from the other. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Kyungsoo drew a shuddering breath, his fingers twitching against his chest as the other struggled to swallow back sobs. Jongin said nothing, his mind suddenly much more alert than it had been all day.

“They- they- they make me hurt them.” Kyungsoo continued, his voice shaking. “I don’t want to do it anymore Jongin. I don’t want to.”

“Who?” Jongin asked, shifting even closer. He wanted to reach out, to take Kyungsoo’s cramping hands, but the memory of the sharp pain across his nose, of tumbling over the arm of the couch, was still too fresh.

“They say they’re bad.” Kyungsoo bit his lips, whimpering. “But they’re not! I can see, I can see, and they’re not!” He let out a shuddering breath, eyes screwing tightly shut. Jongin could see the first tears begin to make their way down his cheeks.

They were clear this time, no blood, no red.

“Who are _they_?” Jongin asked, his voice as quiet as Kyungsoo, as if they were sharing secrets. He supposed they were. Deep, dark secrets. The secrets Kyungsoo had fought so hard to keep hidden.

“They, they’ve always been there. They-” Kyungsoo’s breath hitched, his fingers spasming against his chest. “They say I’m helping but- but I don’t think I am.” Kyungsoo said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to help them anymore.”

“Help them with what? What do they do?” Jongin asked, voice urgent. He was so close, so, so close to finally finding out. Finally, he would find out who Kyungsoo truly was.

“They make me split them open.” Kyungsoo sobbed, the tears finally breaking free. “They- they- make me find what they want. They make- make- make me make them forget. They tell me to hurt them, and I have to.” Kyungsoo looked up, face a grimace of pain.

  
“It hurts so much Jongin. It hurts so, so much. I have to! I have to do it! I don’t have a choice!” He wailed, the pain washing over Jongin with each word. The taller suddenly felt guilt eat away at him once more, the thrill of finding out replaced with horror. What was Kyungsoo going through to make him react like this. Splitting people open, hurting them.

“What hurts?” Jongin asked, afraid to find out the answer. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the ring of bruises on the other’s neck, from the red spots on his temples.

Wordlessly, Kyungsoo held out his hands, fingers bent unnaturally. With each inch, the sleeves of his sweater slid up, until Jongin could clearly see the two bracelets that sat around his wrists. They were shining today, an icy blue, and in the silence echoing between Kyungsoo’s panicked sobs he could hear them hum.

“They’re looking for me.” Kyungsoo whispered. “I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be here.”

Jongin reached out with his unbroken hand, hesitant to touch the icy blue metal. He could see the veins stand out in Kyungsoo’s wrists, see the tendons move as the fingers cramped.

A sharp buzz filled the room, only for a split second. With a gut-wrenching cry Kyungsoo doubled over, his entire body locking up. He pressed his face into the bedding, whimpering like a wounded animal.

Jongin flinched, scrambling back on the bed as he waited for the room to move, for the air to fill with electricity and invisible hands pull at him. But nothing happened. Nothing, except Kyungsoo’s broken wailing.

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin asked, heart stuck in his throat. What was happening? What were they doing? What were those bracelets? Were this how they hurt Kyungsoo?

Kyungsoo gave another cry, entire body jumping with sobs as he cried. He didn’t seem aware of the world around him, whatever pain the bracelets were causing him too much for him to focus on anything else.

Jongin felt bile rise in him. He didn’t want to be here anymore. He didn’t want to find out anymore. He wanted to be back in class, with his guilt, and his wondering. All of that seemed so simple now. Now, it was so clear who the monster was, and it had never been Kyungsoo. It had always been them, whoever the people doing this to Kyungsoo were. It had always been them.

And maybe it was Jongin too.

He closed his eyes as Kyungsoo gave another vail, the sound piercing through Jongin’s chest like a spear. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to.

But, he was, and so was Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo was in pain. Kyungsoo was scared, and alone, and in pain, and he had gone here out of all places. Had curled up on Jongin’s bed and nowhere else.

_I had nowhere else to go_

Kyungsoo had no one. No one except Jongin. And Jongin couldn’t take that away from him.

With a deep breath he reached out, placing a hand on Kyungsoo’s back. His hoodie was soaked through with sweat, clammy against Jongin’s hand. How long had he been in pain? How long had he been terrified? How much longer was Jongin going to allow him to be?

Slowly, unsure of what to do, he started stroking Kyungsoo’s back, tried to get the other to relax. He vaguely remembered his mother doing the same to him, when he had been young, and his brother, when he had had been older.

He shifted closer, pressing his side against Kyungsoo’s curled up form as the other cried. He let his fingers slowly travel up and down Kyungsoo’s back, let them stroke the sweat soaked hair, let him know he was there for him, that he had made the right decision to come to Jongin.

Slowly, he managed to coax Kyungsoo to rest his head in Jongin’s lap, his face pressed into Jongin’s stomach and his hands carefully holding onto Jongin’s hip and thigh, as if afraid of letting him go.

He never said anything. He didn’t think there was anything he could say. But somehow it felt enough to kept stroking his hand down Kyungsoo’s back, seeing the other slowly calm down, see the tears slowly dry up and his breathing slowly even out.

It took an hour for Kyungsoo to pass out from sheer exhaustion. It took another for Jongin to stop crying and do the same.

* * *

By the time Jongin woke up, Kyungsoo was gone. The only proof that he had ever been there to begin with was the wetness of Jongin’s jeans where the other’s tears had soaked through.

With a sinking heart Jongin realized that if Kyungsoo wasn’t here, the only place he could have gone was back to the factory, and back to _them_.

He couldn’t understand why! Kyungsoo could just run away, run, run, run as far as he could. Why didn’t he? Why had he come to Jongin when he obviously shouldn't have, only to return back to his torturers.

_I had nowhere else to go_

Maybe that was true, in the most literal sense. Kyungsoo felt he could not go anywhere except to the dorms, to Jongin, and that was barely 10 minutes away from the factory. And... last time he had accidentally hurt one of them, he had thought he wasn’t welcome here anymore.

Maybe the same thing had happened now. He had fled to Jongin in panic, only to convince himself that they didn’t want him here anymore.

If that were the case, there was only one thing Jongin could do. If Kyungsoo couldn’t free himself, Jongin would have to free him. He would have to go there, get the other out, and then hide him in the dorms. That way, he wouldn’t have to hurt anymore. He would never have to hurt again. And he would never have to hurt anyone again.

So, he planned. He would go tomorrow, feign being sick so he could go while it was still day. He knew none of the others would let him return to the factory, especially not while he still had his arm in a cast. Especially not when they thought Kyungsoo was dangerous. So, he would go when everyone else was in class, and when they all came back, he could explain.

It was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission after all.


	13. Chapter 12

The heavy metal doors seemed ever taller today for some reason, looming over him in ways they had never done before.

The safety he had used to feel inside the factory, created by the knowledge that Kyungsoo would always watch over him, was no longer there. Instead it had been replaced by a churning worry in his guts, the knowledge that there were people here Kyungsoo couldn’t protect him from an ever-present pinprick in the back of his mind. 

On quick but quiet feet he set out toward Kyungsoo’s hideout. The other had to be there. He had always been whenever he wasn’t with Jongin at the dorms.

The corridors seemed longer than they had been before, darker. Not even the ever so familiar pyramids of mugs could ease the feeling that someone was watching him, lurking just outside of his field of vision.

He made the mistake of turning around once, making sure nothing was following him, and after that he couldn’t stop. Paranoia was crawling up his spine, sinking its claws into his chest as he climbed the steps to Kyungsoo’s little hideout.

It was empty.

Jongin blinked, feeling his breathing speed up. It was empty. Which meant Kyungsoo wasn’t there. Which meant he was somewhere else. But where? Where could he be? Where could he be except...

With _them_.

He turned around, the dark opening to the stairwell he had come from taunting him. The factory was enormous. And somewhere in its middle were Kyungsoo.

He should wait here, wait for Kyungsoo to return and then convince him to go with Jongin. He should wait until whatever they were doing to Kyungsoo were over and done with and then they would both be free.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t wait while Kyungsoo was being hurt. He had to go help him. He couldn’t live with himself if he came this far and then didn’t do anything. What he could do, he didn’t know, but he knew he had to do _something_.

He tightened his grip around his flashlight, and stepped out into the stairwell once more.

He would go to the second factory floor, he decided once he had reached the long corridors once again. Everywhere else had been picked clean except for there. That had to mean something. That, and the fact that Kyungsoo hadn’t allowed them to enter that first night. He had always thought that was so they wouldn’t hurt each other, but maybe it had been for other reasons to. So that no one else would hurt them.

The room with the gurney still brought him chills, and for some reason he kept expecting to see another ghostly face behind the window to the observation room. Were there more like Kyungsoo? People with powers they couldn’t explain who were made to hurt others.

What would he do with them? He couldn’t leave them behind. He couldn’t take them with him.

He pressed the door open to the second factory floor. The carcases of the machinery were still there, untouched. His footsteps echoed against the high ceiling as he crossed the massive hall.

The cone of light from his flashlight teased him with its limitations. Something was always just out of his sight, lurking in the murky darkness where the light wouldn’t reach. Shapes, maybe movements?

There were no mug pyramids here.

Unlike the first factory floor, there were no doors at the end of this one. The wall rose before him like a monolith. He turned around, searching the other walls for any sort of doors, for anything that could lead him deeper into the factory.

His light landed on a set of metal grid stairs leading up to a catwalk. Jongin let his light follow the catwalk, slowly turning until he was facing the end wall once again. There, at the very top, were doors leading into something beyond the factory floor.

He carefully made his way over, careful not to touch anything that had been left behind. The sound of his converse against the metal stairs grated against his eardrums. It seemed impossibly loud, and no matter how lightly he stepped it just seemed to increase.

The first door at the end of the catwalk led into an old control room. The large window overlooking the factory floor was layered with dirt and the old control stations hadn’t been touched in years judging by the thick layer of dust covering them.

He closed the door without entering.

The next door led into a break room. Just like the factory floor, it seemed to have been left in a hurry. There were unwashed coffee cups in the sink, untouched even by Kyungsoo, and the old fridge was still humming. Jongin didn’t open it. He only walked far enough in to confirm the two doors on the other side of the room lead to the toilets.

“Finding what you’re looking for?”

Jongin jumped, whipping around. A blinding light hit him in his eyes, making him wince and raise his arm to cover his eyes.

“Who are you?!” He called, trying to not show the terror that was flowing through his veins in his voice.

The voice gave a chuckle.

“I should be asking you that. But alas, I think we are both familiar with each other.”

Jongin squinted, trying to spot whoever the person speaking was. All he could see was a dark silhouette in the door opening.

“Come. I’ll take you to Kyungsoo. We can discuss your little friend once we’re there.” The voice said. It wasn’t an offer, and when the light finally left his eyes the figure had already moved out of the door opening.

Jongin stumbled forward, started to sprint, took a sharp left, away from the figure, and collided with something solid.

A strong hand grasped his arm, turned him around. The figure who had been talking was standing by the third door, half his side illuminated by the light shining from inside. He had sharp features, like a hawk. His eyes were set deep in his skull, his hollow cheeks making his cheekbones stand out like sharp fins, and his gaze was rock hard, leaving no room for debate.

“There is no use running. You’ve already seen too much. Now, if you cooperate, I might let you leave without having Kyungsoo have a go at you. You wouldn’t want to put him through that now, would you?” The man said.

Jongin swallowed, his mouth bone dry and his entire frame shaking with adrenaline. It was clear he wouldn’t be leaving here until the man had gotten what he wanted. If he would be leaving at all, that was.

Suddenly he wished he had told someone where he had gone.

On shaking legs, he took a step forward, and without looking to make sure he took another the man walked through the door.

The brightly lit corridors were somehow worse than the pitch-black ones Jongin had walked through only minutes ago. They seemed to press in on him, the bulbs like search lights following his every step. The heavy presence of the guard behind him was worse than any imagined presence that had followed him earlier.

After a few minutes of walking, the man opened one of the doors lining the corridor and stepped through. Jongin was forced to follow.

The room reminded him of the control room he had seen earlier, except a lot more modern. There was a large window at the end of it that the man looked through with muted interest before he turned to Jongin.

“You came here looking for Kyungsoo, did you not.” The man said after a moment of silence. Jongin didn’t reply, his hand tightly clutching the flashlight. He wouldn’t make this easy on the man, that was for sure. He wouldn’t give him anything.

“That wasn’t a question.” The man said, turning back toward the large window before raising his hand and with a quick flick of his fingers gesturing for Jongin to come.

Jongin didn’t move. Didn’t say anything.

The large hand grabbed his arm again, forced him forward until he was standing next to the man.

  
“Kyungsoo!” Jongin gasped, spotting the other behind the window. The room behind it was lowered, ensuring the viewer could view the whole room from above with no issue. The other was sitting on a chair in one end of the room, his head lowered and his posture tense. He was alone.

“He can’t hear you.” The man said. “Nor can he see you. He does not know you’re here, and I would do nothing to grab his attention if I were you. You don’t want to see him get hurt now, do you?”

Jongin looked up at the man, every part of him screaming at him that he needed to get away from there, that he was dangerous. The man met his gaze for a split second, before he nodded toward Kyungsoo.

Jongin turned his eyes back to the room, looking over Kyungsoo. He hadn’t moved. His body appeared almost as if frozen.

The man pressed a button on the control panel in front of them.

“Will you behave today, Kyungsoo?” He asked.

Kyungsoo flinched, eyes looking up toward the large window. Something silver glinted around his neck. The same silver as his bracelets. Realization crashed over Jongin like a bucket of ice water.

Slowly, Kyungsoo nodded.

“You ran away yesterday. That wasn’t very kind of you. You delayed us.” The man continued, finger still resting on the button. Kyungsoo looked down again, his fingers fisted in his black jeans. “We can’t help others if you won’t help us, you do understand that Kyungsoo, don’t you?”

Kyungsoo gave another nod.

“Good.” The man said, lifting his finger from the button. “Proceed.” He told the guard behind Jongin, who nodded and left the room.

“Now, what has Kyungsoo told you?” The man asked, turning to Jongin. Jongin clenched his jaw, refusing to look at the man. The man slowly moved a finger toward one of the buttons before him. As his finger rested on it, the metal collar around Kyungsoo’s neck suddenly lit up icy blue.

Kyungsoo flinched, and Jongin could see his breathing quicken. The memory of Kyungsoo’s screams of pain from yesterday, of the same icy blue light, made him sick to his stomach.

“That you hurt him!” Jongin answered. “That you make him do stuff, hurt others! Something about splitting people open, about making them forget! That’s all! That’s all he’s said. He’s said the rest is a secret. He hasn’t said anything else!” He rambled as quick as he could, eyes glued to the collar around Kyungsoo’s neck.

The light went out, the man having moved his finger off of the button.

“You’re an obedient one, aren’t you?” He commented. Jongin diverted his eyes, feeling shame fill him. He just couldn’t stand the thought of him being the one to hurt Kyungsoo like that, of him being the one to cause those bruises.

“Kyungsoo has been surprisingly obedient too.” The man continued, blinking as he watched Kyungsoo curl up on his chair. “He must have learnt from the previous times.”

“Previous times?” Jongin asked before he could stop himself.

  
“Don’t think you’re the first to discover him. The village is far too curious for its own good. But you’re the first one to get this close in a very long time. He has indeed gotten better at scaring others away, hasn’t he?” The man answered, voice disinterested.

“What happened with the others?” Jongin asked. He didn’t want to know. He knew he didn’t want to know. But he couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Kyungsoo dealt with them.” The man replied.

A door opened in the room below them, a confused looking man stumbling into the room followed by a guard.

“On your knees.” The guard said, pushing the man forward. Slowly, eyes desperately trying to catch Kyungsoo’s, the man sank down on his knees. The guard pulled up a gun, released the safety, and pressed it to the back on the man’s head in one smooth motion.

“Oh god!” The man gasped, his hands raising in surrender. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! I’ll do anything you ask of me! I’ll cooperate! Please! Please!

The man reached out a slender finger, and pressed the communications button once more.

“Mr Hyang, welcome. You have nothing to worry about. Kyungsoo here will take care of everything. You won’t even remember what has happened once he’s done. Just relax and try not to fight it.” He spoke, making the man on his knees looking around in confusion, his eyes flicking between Kyungsoo, the window, and the door.

“Begin, Kyungsoo.” The man said and released the button once more.

Kyungsoo’s hands tightened in his jeans once more, before he looked up at the kneeling man before him.

The man flinched back, eyes wide with fright. He shook his head, mouth opening as if to plead.

Instead his hands flew to his eyes, a panicked sound escaping him as he pushed at his eyes as if trying to remove something. The movements grew more and more frantic, until he scratched a long line across his cheek, blood welling a moment later.

  
“MAKE HIM STOP!” The man screamed, his nails raking over his face. “GET HIM OUT! MAKE HIM STOP! PLEASE! PLEASE! AAGHGHHG!” His scream morphed into a gurgling sound, his head twitching unnaturally to the side.

A moment later, his arms grew slack, his mouth falling open and his eyes rolling back into his head. He stilled, and if he weren’t still holding himself up on his knees Jongin would have thought the man had died.

“What’s happening?” He asked, looking up at the man, before turning back to the room. Kyungsoo was still on his chair, eyes black as he stared at the man.

“Do you know what Kyungsoo’s powers do?” The man asked.

“Telekinesis.” Jongin replied, watching the man on his knees twitch weakly every few seconds.

“Good. You’re a smart one.” The man said, seeming completely unbothered by the scene in front of him. “But that’s only one aspect. Quite frankly, it’s quite a useless aspect. We have much more effective modes of doing whatever Kyungsoo can do telekinetically. We discovered that with the first batch of subjects.”

“First batch?” Jongin asked, feeling his stomach churn. So, there were more people like Kyungsoo, or at least there had been.

“Yes. When we first developed the drugs, we discovered they gave the subjects telekinetic powers. Quite fascinating for its time. However, neither of them lasted long. You see, you had to continue taking the drug for the effects to last, and most of them died after only a few years. A few of them clung to life for longer than that.

“One of them were Kyungsoo’s mother. Blessed creature. From the very beginning we knew Kyungsoo was something special. It was in his DNA you see. And that wasn’t all, as he grew, it became apparent his powers were beyond those of the first batch, both in strength and ability.

“What you see before you know is a mixture of telepathy and telekinesis. We are still figuring out exactly what, that is essential for us to replicate it you understand, but it gives him the ability to search through someone’s mind for information, and for him to edit memories. He can read the signals travelling along the neurons, and edit them as needed. As such, his abilities are of great use to the national security of Korea.” The man explained.

Jongin blinked, taking in the information. Had Kyungsoo spent his entire life like this? Been born into this? No, no it couldn’t be. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair! How could the universe allow him to suffer that much?

  
“He doesn’t know anything.”

Kyungsoo’s quiet voice broke through Jongin’s thoughts. He looked up, seeing Kyungsoo, eyes black, still staring at the kneeling man before him.

With a press of his finger the man opened a line of communication once more.

“Well done. Make sure he doesn’t remember.” He instructed, before letting go of the button.

“Why are you telling me all this?” Jongin asked, turning to look at the man. “I thought this was a secret.”

“It is.” The man said, turning to look at Jongin. “And you’re going to keep it.” He turned back toward the room, watching as the man on his knees twitched weakly once more.

“What if I don’t.” Jongin asked, eyes glued to the scene in the room before him.

“You are.” The man said. “Or else, I’ll simply have Kyungsoo erase your memories. Wouldn’t that be a shame Jongin, for you to forget him completely. You wouldn’t put him through that now, would you.”

Jongin looked up at the man, his heart pounding heavily in his ears. The man nodded toward the room once more.

“It’s a delicate process, the whole memory erasing thing.” The man continued, hand resting on the control panel. “He still hasn’t perfected it. It would be awful if something where to go wrong while he erased your memories.” A thin finger pressed the button to Kyungsoo’s collar.

Kyungsoo gave yelp, whole body spasming. At the same time, the kneeling man’s head quickly snapped to the side, before he sank lifelessly to the ground.

Kyungsoo blinked, his eyes slowly returning to normal, and looked over at the man. Weakly, one of his hands reached out, his face screwing up in pain as he watched the unmoving man on the floor.

A pained cry escaped him, his hands coming up to clutch at his head as the first tears started rolling down his cheeks. It continued to build, and build, and build, until Kyungsoo was screaming, a horror filled, pained sound.

“He’s always so upset whenever he has a little accident.” The man said next to Jongin.

Jongin felt his stomach turn. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the crumpled man as he waited for him to move, to twitch, to anything. Anything to show he was still alive. The sound of Kyungsoo’s desperate wailing drilled into his skull, matching the desperation he felt inside.

“I understand Kyungsoo is dear to you, and that you think that taking him away from here would be ‘kind’ or ‘protecting him’, but that is not the case Jongin. You see, Kyungsoo is dangerous. He’s a monster, a disaster waiting to happen. If we were to let him go loose, it would only be a matter of time before he hurts the people around him.

“By keeping him here, treating his seizures and teaching him how to use his powers, we’re doing him a kindness. We’re giving him a life, where in the real world he would not have one. Here, we can keep him under total control. The collar and bracelets dim his abilities, keeps them at a manageable level for him, and ensures that he doesn’t use them without supervision. We’re keeping not only everyone else safe, but him too.

  
“You want him to be safe, don’t you?” The man finished.

Jongin swallowed, wishing anything could be done to cut out the anguished sound of Kyungsoo’s cries.

“I do.” He replied, still staring at the body of the man, hoping against all hope he would wake up again.

“Then, I suggest you forget about Kyungsoo. You tell no one, you never visit him, or the factory again, and you continue your life as if nothing of this had ever happened.” The man said, his eyes drilling into Jongin.

Jongin nodded, feeling his heart break as he watched another guard enter the room, take the man by the feet, and pull him out of there. The guard with the gun followed, leaving Kyungsoo alone curled up weeping on the floor.

“You can leave then.” The man said, waving his hand dismissively.

Jongin nodded, forced himself to turn around, and left the room.

The sound of Kyungsoo’s crying followed him the entire way back to the school.


	14. Chapter 13

“Hyung?”

“Jongin!” The sound of his brother’s voice did little to ease the tight knot of worry in Jongin’s guts. “What’s up bro? School treating you alright?”

“Yeah.” Jongin answered noncommittally, his sweaty palms pressing against the top of his jeans. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. After all, the instructions the man had given him had been more than clear. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to get involved with all of this.

But then again, who could he ask except Jonghyuk?

“The semester is almost over, right?” Jonghyuk continued, voice light through Jongin’s receiver.

“Yeah.” Jongin repeated. “We only have one assignment left.” He had spent the past week drowning himself in schoolwork, trying and failing to forget about Kyungsoo, and the fact that he wasn’t visiting anymore. His friends had asked about him once or twice, but Jongin’s evasive answers soon made them stop.

He wished they hadn’t.

He knew they shouldn’t.

  
Was this what Kyungsoo had to wrestle with all the time?

“Ooh, the holidays are within view then.” Jonghyuk replied. “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you about this but you know how I am. It just completely slipped my mind. Anyhow, are you planning on coming over during the holidays this year? I would love to show you my new place.”

The holidays? Jongin hadn’t even thought of them. His mind had been far too preoccupied with Kyungsoo, and how he wasn’t supposed to think about Kyungsoo anymore. Much less visit him again...ever again. How he was all alone now, and how the friends he had had had all abandoned him. The tight knot of worry in his gut twisted a little more, ached a little harder.

  
“Jongin?” Jonghyuk asked.

  
“Yeah!” Jongin blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. “The holidays? Yeah. Yeah, I’m excited.”

Jonghyuk was silent for a long second at the other end of the line, long enough for Jongin to know that whatever he had replied hadn’t been the right thing.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“No!” Jongin replied quickly, shaking his head despite the fact that his brother couldn’t see him. “No. I’m fine.” He mustn’t let him know. He couldn’t. He had to forget. He had decided now. He must try to forget. To just ignore what he had learnt and seen. To ignore that he had ever known Kyungsoo. To ignore the bruised wrists, the bruised neck, and the bruised temples. To ignore the cries of anguish that haunted him at night.

“Are you sure?” Jonghyuk asked, his voice a little quiet. Jongin could hear him move from the other end of the line. The tell-tale sound of someone sinking into a couch. “You know you can tell me anything, right. No matter what. You’re my little brother, and I would do anything for you.”

Jongin bit his lip, his guts aching.

“Yeah.” He admitted, forcing in a deep breath and holding it. He could hear Jonghyuk’s even breathing through the speaker, his brother waiting patiently. “Actually...” Jongin begun, his resolve crumbling as though turned to dust as the first word slipped past his lips. “I- I have this question... It’s... kinda odd.”

“Oh! Is it for another book you’re reading?” Jonghyuk asked, and Jongin graciously grabbed hold of the life line he had been thrown.

  
“Yeah.”

“Well then, shoot.” Jonghyuk prompted.

Jongin licked his lips and cast a look around him. The bedroom was still empty, his friends hanging out in the dorms today. He knew that if they heard, they would know who he was talking about, and he couldn’t have that happen. He couldn’t have anyone know. Everyone had to forget.

“Well, there is this...character.” He begun weakly. How would he even explain it? “And... they’re dangerous. But they don’t mean to be! It’s like, accidental, although maybe they mean it in the moment. I don’t know. It’s like, they have the ability to be dangerous, but they _do_ use it at times and-”

“Jongin.” Jonghyuk cut him off. “Start from the beginning. This character, he’s dangerous, but you say he doesn’t mean to be. How?”

“Well, there are these...bad guys? I guess you can call them the bad guys. And they found him, and discovered that he has these powers that makes him dangerous, and they say they’re trying to help him with them, but, they also hurt him when they do so.” Jongin said, waiting for Jonghyuk to reply.

  
“Okay. So, guy with dangerous powers get discovered by bad guys, who try to help him by hurting him?” Jonghyuk said.

  
“Well, not really. They’re trying to help him control them. But...that means they have to hurt him. And... I think that makes him both less and more dangerous.” Jongin explained, biting his lip.

“Okay, yeah I understand that.” Jonghyuk shifted on the couch once more, and Jongin could almost see him lean forward, resting his elbows on his knees as a small frown scrunched up his eyebrows. “I’m assuming we the reader are supposed to sympathise with the powers guy? Or maybe the bad guys? That would be interesting.”

  
“Yeah, uh.” Jongin frowned, pulling at his ear as he tried to figure out how to explain the next part. “Well, there is this other character too! Who gets to know the guy with the powers, and who finds out that other people are hurting him, but he also finds out that the guy is really, _really_ dangerous. That... that he hurts people sometimes. And, he gets told that the powers guy has to be hurt and kept captive for everyone’s sake. And I’m wondering if that’s true?”

Jonghyuk sighed on the other end of the line, a deep, troubled sound.

“Well, I guess what the book is trying to tell you, Jongin, is that sometimes you have to put what is better for everyone over what is better for the individual.” Jonghyuk said.

Jongin felt his guts twist, his chest feeling tight, as if he didn’t fit inside of himself.

  
“But, but this guy, he really, _really_ cares for the guy with the powers. And he can see that he doesn’t want to be bad!” He needed to make Jonghyuk understand that Kyungsoo didn’t mean it. He didn’t mean it! He couldn’t mean it! He was kind and sweet and he wasn’t the monster those people had told him he was.

“That does make it hard Jongin, but...you have to understand. Sometimes the people we care about hurt us the most. Maybe that’s what the book is trying to say? And in that case, having someone keeping you from the person who’s hurting you can be good. Even though it seems like they’re getting hurt in the process.” Jonghyuk spoke gently.

“But! But I _know_ they’re hurting the guy with the powers! He’s got, he’s got like bruises and...and he’s scared! He’s very, very scared of the bad guys.” Jongin continued, feeling his heart speed up in his chest. They were hurting Kyungsoo so bad, and he was so scared, and he had been so brave when he allowed himself to get to know Jongin. And here Jongin was, like a coward, too scared himself to do anything to help him.

“I know the guy doesn’t want to be there! And I know those guys aren’t doing what’s best for everyone! They’re just saying it so they can continue to hurt him and make him do what they want! They’re not trying to be kind to me! They’re lying!” Jongin spat, tears burning in his eyes as he felt the rage build up in him again. It was all so unfair! And he was such a coward! And it was pathetic how little he was doing! But...he didn’t even know what he could do. And he felt so helpless, and so useless, and so awful for letting Kyungsoo down.

“Jongin.” Jonghyuk whispered, his tone suddenly serious. “This isn’t from a book, is it?” He asked, although Jongin could tell he already knew the answer.

  
“No.” Jongin admitted, voice barely a whisper.

A beat of silence followed. Jongin could hear Jonghyuk press his hand over the receiver, and the muffled cry of _‘fuck’_ before his brother’s heavy breathing once again returned to his ear.

“How the hell do you get mixed up in something like this?” Jonghyuk asked. “Fuck...You gotta help him, Jongin.”

Jongin blinked, feeling as though his heart had stopped in his chest.

“I do?”

“Yes! Fuck, Jongin YES! Didn’t you hear yourself? They’re torturing this guy or whatever, and they’re making him do stuff. And you trust him right, you know his powers aren’t dangerous, right?”

“Yes!” Jongin nodded.

“Then help him! Call the police or something! There has to be something you can do, right?” Jonghyuk continued. Jongin nodded again, making a small sound of agreement. Yes, yes, he would help Kyungsoo. He _had_ to help Kyungsoo. He knew where he was kept now. He would be careful. He would sneak in, find him, and get him out of there. He knew how to find him. He knew how to help him.

“Do you need me to do anything? Should I call the police too? Or do you need me to talk to mom and dad?” Should I call the school board?” Jonghyuk continued.

“Can you come here?” Jongin asked. “Could you come with your car?”

  
“Yes, yes of course. I can be there tomorrow night if I drive first thing in the morning.” Jonghyuk replied.

“Can you drive tonight, now?” Jongin asked. He would need to get Kyungsoo as far away from this place as possible once he got him out. The people who held him captive knew about Jongin, and probably about the school as well. He would need to get of here too.

Jonghyuk hesitated for a moment.

“Yes.” He finally replied, and Jongin heard him get off the couch. “Yes, I’ll go as soon as I can. I’ll be there in the morning.”

“I love you, Hyung.” Jongin spoke, standing up himself and walking over to his wardrobe.

  
“Love you too, Nini.” Jonghyuk replied, voice suddenly losing its conviction. “Don’t do anything st-”

Jongin hung up and pocketed his phone, his mind made up. He would get Kyungsoo out of there tonight. He _would_. No matter what happened he would make sure Kyungsoo wouldn’t have to suffer any more.

He pulled the doors of the wardrobe open and grabbed his jacket. Before pulling his shoes out from under his bed and sticking his feet into them. There was no time to lose. Every second was another second he had abandoned Kyungsoo.

With determination in his steps, he stepped up to the window and forced the rusty hinges open.

“Jongin?”

Baekhyun’s voice made him freeze. He turned around, seeing his friend stare at him with large eyes.

“Where are you going?” He asked. Jongdae appeared next to him in the door opening, followed by Minseok, Yixing and Sehun. He could hear Junmyeon and Chanyeol ask what was going on behind the group.

“You’re going to Kyungsoo.” Yixing said once Jongin didn’t answer.

“I have to. I have to save him.” Jongin replied before his brain could stop his mouth. He didn’t need more people involved than what he had already pulled into this mess.

“Save him?” Jongdae asked, brows furrowing. “From what?”

“They’re hurting him, and I’m going to stop them. I’m going to free him.” Jongin spoke, hoisting a foot up on the windowsill.

  
“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Baekhyun called, rushing forward into the room. “You still have your arm in a cast! You can’t do this alone!”

Jongin stilled again, looking down at his arm.

“He’s right.” Junmyeon said, making Jongin looking up at him. “You can’t do this alone. It’s too dangerous.”

“But I have to save him. They’re forcing him to kill people. I _have to_ save him.” Jongin pleaded. He couldn’t have gotten this close only to be stopped at the last moment. Not now. Not when he was so determined. Not when he had finally managed to push through the fear. This was his moment. His _only_ moment.

Junmyeon looked over at Jongdae, and then Minseok, and then back at Jongin once again. There was worry written clearly on his face, uncertainty. Jongin could remember so clearly the conversation they had had on the way to the nurse’s office. He was sure Junmyeon did too. But there was also something more.

Junmyeon sighed, his hands fisting by his side as his head fell down. Jongin held his breath, silently praying that he would be allowed to go. Another moment passed, and then another, until finally, Junmyeon looked back up, the same determination Jongin felt mirrored in his eyes.

  
“Then we’re coming with you.”


	15. Chapter 14

It could never have worked. Jongin knew that now. They had barely entered the second factory floor when they had been surrounded, guns pointed at their heads, orders shouted at them. They had been forced up those metal stairs, each step feeling like a mountain as he tried to block out the choked off sobs coming from Chanyeol. The sterile white corridors had seemed even longer as they followed the man through them, past the control room, and down a pair of stairs.

It could never have worked. Jongin knew that now, as he was forced to his knees in the middle of the room he had watched Kyungsoo accidentally kill a man in just a week prior.

“You didn’t heed my advice I see, Jongin.” The man said, eyes sweeping over the group of students before him. “And you told others.”

“How did you find out my name?” Jongin asked, struggling not to choke on the fear lodged deep in his throat.

“What makes you think I didn’t already know it last time we met?” The man asked, eyebrows giving the smallest rise. Jongin bit his lip, holding back the whimper threatening to break free.

“Now, now, Jongin, don’t be sad. After all, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you returned here. You only have yourself to blame, don’t you?” The man continued.

Jongin could feel the eyes of his friends turn to him, their heavy gazes adding to the guilt in his middle. They hadn’t known. He hadn’t told them the stakes. He had been so sure they would be able to do it he hadn’t even told them what would happen if they failed. He hadn’t given them the chance to back out, and now it was his fault that they were all here.

  
“Then again, I suppose that when you really look at it, it’s Kyungsoo’s fault. If he only learnt how to listen.” The man mused.

“Where is he?!” Jongdae barked, halfway to his feet when the guard behind him cracked him over the head with the butt of his gun. Jongdae crumpled to the floor, hands pressed tightly against the back of his hair.

When he lifted them, they came away stained red with blood.

“There is no need for violence.” The man said, raising a hand toward the guard who took a step back. A look toward the rest of the guards had them lowering their guns to their sides.

“Kyungsoo will be here soon. We’re making sure he’s ready. Your visit was quite unexpected.” The man continued, lowering his hand once more and clasping it behind his back.

  
“Who even are you?” Baekhyun asked, his teeth gritted in anger. “And what are you doing to Kyungsoo?!” The last words echoed around the room, bouncing against the stark white walls.

Where Baekhyun was kneeling was where the man had been killed. Jongin thought he could still see his lifeless shape on the floor, eyes open, jaw slack, Kyungsoo screaming in the corner.

“Oh, how rude of me.” The man said, a mocking smile on his face. “I suppose I could introduce myself, considering the circumstances. You’re quite special, don’t you know? I wouldn’t do this hadn’t Kyungsoo decided befriending you were worth the rules now.

“You can call me Mr Kim.” He lowered his head in a minute bow, as if playing at politeness. “It will be a pleasure to watch the saneness slip from your eyes.”

Baekhyun let out a noise halfway between a scream and a laugh, his eyes wide and challenging for a moment, before he lowered his head. Next to him, Chanyeol let out another sob.

Jongin wanted to throw up.

  
“What are you going to do with us?” He asked. He had to know. He didn’t want to know.

“I’m not going to do anything to you. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, is.” Mr Kim replied, head turning toward the door at the end of the room. “Speaking of the devil.”

Jongin’s eyes flew to the door. He couldn’t look away, no matter how much he wanted to. He didn’t want to see the betrayal in Kyungsoo’s eyes as he saw them there, on their knees, captured and ready for whatever Mr Kim decided Kyungsoo needed to do with them.

The handle slowly pressed down, and another guard stepped into the room. Behind him followed Kyungsoo, a dazed look on his face as he took in the room in front of him. Jongin could spot the exact moment he realized who was before him, and it broke his heart.

“No. NO!” Kyungsoo screamed, scrambling backwards. The two guards having followed him through the door easily grabbed him under the arms, forcing him forwards as his feet slid uselessly against the floor. “NO! I WON’T DO IT! I WON’T DO IT! DON’T MAKE ME-!”

His screams were abruptly cut short as a short buzzing sound filled the chamber. Kyungsoo’s body seized, every muscle locking up, before he fell limp to the floor.

The broken cry of his sobs twisted the guilt like a dagger in Jongin’s guts.

“You broke the rules Kyungsoo, and you know what that means.” Mr Kim spoke, walking up to Kyungsoo and crouching down next to him. Slowly, almost gently, he reached out and stroked his hand over Kyungsoo’s hair. Kyungsoo twisted in pain. “You have to set things right.” Mr Kim whispered.

Kyungsoo shook his head, his sobs drowning out any other sound in the room.

Mr Kim looked up toward the window again, and the short buzz filled the room once more. Kyungsoo screamed, voice cracking. Jongin tore his eyes away, his own whimpers pathetic compared to the harrowing cries coming from Kyungsoo.

“You can do anything you want, Kyungsoo, as long as none of them will be able to say a word about you in the end.” Mr Kim whispered, giving Kyungsoo’s shaking form a gentle pat.

Kyungsoo gave a weak nod, and Jongin heard himself let out a sound like a cornered animal. He didn’t want this. He wanted nothing of this. He had just wanted Kyungsoo to stop hurting. He had just wanted everything to be okay, for them all to be okay. And now, now-

He couldn’t even think. His mind was running in circles, flashing through the memories of Kyungsoo smiling, of him insisting this all was a secret, of Jonghyuk waiting outside the school, never knowing what happened with him.

Kyungsoo pushed himself up on shaking limbs, tears still flowing down his cheeks as he took a weak step forward. The metal collar around his neck was glowing blue, along with the bracelets on his wrist. The skin on his temples was red and raw, matching the blooming bruises growing around his neck.

Mr Kim placed a hand on his back and forced him forward until he was standing opposite Jongin, his hands squeezing his hoodie with such force his knuckles had turned white.

  
“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he looked at Jongin. Jongin wished he could say the same, wished he could get anything out between the choking sobs and absolute fear pounding away in his chest.

“I’m-” He started when a sudden pressure built behind in the corner of his eyes, just at the outer edge. It grew, and grew, and grew, until Jongin could feel it start to push inside. Like two fingers, worming their way into his brain. He knew he was screaming, clawing at his face with his unbroken hand, but he couldn’t hear any of it. The blood was pounding so loudly in his ears it drowned out everything but the sensation of those fingers pressing deeper, and deeper, and deeper, until he felt them touch his brain.

And then they were gone.

He blinked, hand pressed so tight against his face it hurt. But the fingers were gone, and he couldn’t feel any difference from what he had felt before, and he remembered Kyungsoo, he remembered him as clear as always.

Barely daring to breathe he lowered his hand, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes just before his collar sparked and he was sent down to the ground again with a ear shattering scream.

“Kyungsoo.” Mr Kim tutted as Kyungsoo writhed in pain on the floor in front of him. “Do you want to try that again? This will be your last chance. You want them to live, don’t you? Be merciful to them. You don’t want their blood on your hands too, do you?”

The sparking stopped and Kyungsoo stilled, body curled up tightly. His head gave a tiny shake.

Jongin looked away as the buzzing sound resumed. His mouth tasted like bile. Every second of Kyungsoo’s screaming twisted the knife in his guts deeper. A part of him almost wished Kyungsoo hadn’t stopped, that he had pushed into his mind, wiped him clean of the other, and left him to go on with his life none the wiser. He almost wished Kyungsoo had scrambled him to insanity, that Kyungsoo had killed him too. Anything to stop the horrible screaming, the horrible guilt. Anything!

The room was drowned in cruel silence once more.

“Come on now, Kyungsoo, get this over with. You know that the sooner you do it, the quicker it will be over. Just like a bandage.” The man said, gently stroking Kyungsoo’s short hair again.

Kyungsoo didn’t move.

Had they killed him? Jongin gasped for air, panic starting to blind him as he waited.

“No.” Came a quiet whisper.

Mr Kim stood up, his calm demeanour falling off him as he marched up to the guard behind Jongin.

A boot hit Jongin in the back, making him fall forward. The sole didn’t leave his back, pressing him down into the concrete ground. The click of the safety being taken off a gun filled the air, before Jongin could feel the barrel press against his nape.

“NO!” Sehun screamed next to him. “NO PLEASE!”

The voices of his friends mixed with the panicked racing of his heart, their pleas echoing his own prayers and he begged for his life. He didn’t even know what he was saying, he didn’t even know if he was saying anything. The tears running down his cheeks tasted salty on his lips, the snot dripping down on the floor in front of him forming a little puddle.

“What do you say, Kyungsoo?” Mr Kim spoke, voice echoing over the frantic pleading. “Will you let him die? Will you have that on your conscience? Your only friend, and you just let him die? Why don’t you save him? You have the power to save him, you almost did. It’s just a matter of committing, Kyungsoo. Do it for him. Save him, Kyungsoo.”

“Please!” Kyungsoo whispered, his voice hoarse from the screaming. Jongin repeated the word as if possessed. It was all he could process. Please, please, please, please. He didn’t want to die! He didn’t want to ger shot! He didn’t want Jonghyuk to stand by the school, waiting endlessly for his little Nini that would never return.

“You have until the count of three.” Mr Kim said.

Jongin looked up, his vision blurry from tears.

Kyungsoo was still on the floor, a ball of black and pain. He wasn’t even crying anymore. He was just shaking, his hands clutched tight in his hair and his face pressed into his knees.

  
“Three.” Mr Kim said. Pain exploded at the back of Jongin’s head.


	16. Chapter 15

There was ringing in his ears, loud, shrill. Jongin blinked, every muscle of his body locked in terror. The smell of gunpowder and burnt flesh stung his nostrils. The back of his head ached, the pain singled in on one point of immense pressure.

Yet...he wasn’t dead.

  
Slowly, the ringing subsided, but the shrill tone did not. He blinked again, feeling the pressure slowly ease until suddenly, it was gone, along with the smoking hot barrel of the gun.

“SHOOT THEM!” Mr Kim screamed.

The sound of eight guns firing filled the room, and Jongin flinched, eyes immediately going to his friends. For a moment he thought he would be met with nothing but viscera, until he realized somehow, none of the bullets had hit.

None of them had, because they were all suspended mid-air. He watched as they slowly inched forward, until suddenly they veered off path and shot off into the ceiling.

“GET HIM UNDER CONTROL!” Mr Kim’s order echoed around the room. The now familiar sound of buzzing filled the room, but none of the screaming went with it.

Jongin slowly turned his head, eyes locking with Kyungsoo’s pitch black ones. The collar was alive and sparking around his neck, his bracelet doing the same and bending his cramping fingers into unnatural shapes where they twitched against his chest. None of this seemed to bother him though, as he stared, almost as if unseeing into Jongin’s eyes.

As he watched, red beaded in the corner of Kyungsoo’s eyes. His head twitched, the first tear breaking free and running down his cheek.

Jongin flinched back, watching as Kyungsoo’s head twitched once more.

Mr Kim gurgled behind him. Stumbling, the man moved toward Kyungsoo, falling to his knees as the second tear broke free, caressing the curve of Kyungsoo’s cheek before rounding his nostril. It pooled in his cupid’s bow.

A wet crack echoed through the room. Mr Kim let out a panicked sound, his hands landing on either side of his head, as if to keep it together. Kyungsoo’s head gave another twitch.

In a shower of blood, Mr Kim’s head exploded. Cracked from the inside and out, the brain matter showered over Jongin, sticking to his hair and his skin.

Mr Kim’s words echoed in his head. _He’s a monster, a disaster waiting to happen if we don’t control him_

Through it all, Kyungsoo’s pitch black eyes stared into Jongin’s. A piece of bone landed on his cheek, blending in with the tracks left behind by his bloody tears. The next second a gut-wrenching cry erupted from his lips. His eyes turned toward the guards behind his friends, and the sound of what Jongin had learnt to be the noise a skull made when cracked from the inside out followed.

More blood splattered against his cheeks, staining his once white shirt a dark maroon that would never truly wash out. Jongin closed his eyes, held his breath, and tried not to think of the monster Kyungsoo had become.

The thuds that followed seemed to resonate through Jongin’s core. He could feel the blood soak through his jeans. It was hot, he realized. Still warm from the bodies it was leaking from. He brought a hand up, squeezing his eyes as tightly closed as he possibly could as he brushed something wet, hot and viscus from his lips and chin.

Kyungsoo’s guttural scream stopped, and the silence that followed was somehow even worse.

When Jongin’s eyes fluttered open, his eyelashes were heavy with blood, hovering just in the corner of his vision. Kyungsoo was still twitching on the floor in front of him, muscles cramping as the current from his collar and bracelets ran through him. The bloodred tears had run past his chin by this point, staining his neck and sizzling as they were struck by the sparks emitting from the collar.

The scent of burnt flesh made Jongin’s stomach turn. He doubled forward, hands coming in contact with the blood slicked ground. Except it wasn’t smooth, it was gritty with shattered bones and thick with clotted brain. He heaved, the contents of his stomach mixing with the viscera on the floor.

He let out a sob, barely daring to look over toward his friends but knowing he had to. He had to know. Had to know Kyungsoo hadn’t killed them too.

The sign that met him was even worse than that. Sehun was curled up on the floor next to him, face drenched in blood. Next to him were the remains of his guard, half her head still intact, the other half having exploded over Sehun.

Minseok and Baekhyun were in similar states, eyes empty as they curled up as tightly as they could. Yixing and Chanyeol were clinging to each other as tightly as they could, Yixing’s crying so frantic he sounded as though he was choking. Maybe he was. Jongin almost did, as he saw Jongdae next to him, the student pale as a corpse as the still warm body of his guard were draped over his shoulders in a macabre mimicry of an embrace. The tip of his spine was sticking out, brushing against Jongdae’s cheek with each heaving breath.

Junmyeon was the only one on his feet, his eyes glued to his blood-soaked hands.

Jongin scrambled away. His hand landed on something soft. He turned to look, watching his hand grasp the arm of the headless Mr Kim. He flinched, the motion carrying him up to his feet, and so to not have to look at any of the carnage anymore, he turned his eyes toward Kyungsoo.

The other was sitting up, head lolling as the buzzing sound continued. His left ring finger was twisted to the side where it twitched against his chest, dislocated by the force of the current. A thrill sound escaped through Kyungsoo’s throat, his mouth falling open. The bloody tears curved around his lips, dripped down on his tongue.

With a desperate sound, Kyungsoo clutched his left wrist. His fingers wrapped around the bracelet. The next second, he tore it clean from his wrist. His now free hand curled around the right one, before shattering it. Piece after piece fell of his wrist as he moved his hands to his neck, grabbing the collar. The current stopped, and as if it were made of paper Kyungsoo tore it off his neck.

The shrill sound morphed, until it became a deranged giggle that chilled Jongin to the core. As if grasped under the armpits Kyungsoo was lifted into the air, his lolling head twitching as the eyes focused on the windows above them.

His heavy boots slipped across the floor as he was lifted to standing. The heavy soles touched down with the gentleness of a ballerina. With a twitch Kyungsoo raised his hand, pointing it directly at the windows.

A feral scream, muffled by the supposedly sound proofed glass, reached their ear. Kyungsoo giggled again. The scream cut off, followed by the sound of splatter against the glass. Jongin didn’t look up to see the damage.

Kyungsoo’s giggles filled the room, drowning out Yixing’s frantic crying and Minseok’s pitful whimpers. They were short and desperate, as if Kyungsoo didn’t quite know how to laugh. His whole body shook with them, the blood pouring down his cheeks, soaking through the fabric of his sweatshirt.

“Let’s go.” Kyungsoo spoke, voice cracked. His feet moved unnaturally against the floor, slipping every few steps. He didn’t fall though, the unseen force still holding him up.

A moment later the same force grabbed hold of Jongin, forcing him forward. He could see it do the same with the rest of his friends. They were forced on their feet, their legs moving on their own as they fell in line behind Kyungsoo.

The door to the room was thrown open, ripped off of its hinges as Kyungsoo neared it. There were screams coming from somewhere in the depths of the factory. Kyungsoo giggled again, his shoulders shaking.

They didn’t head up the stairs, instead moving forward deeper into the factory. A pair of guards came running at them, guns raised. They barely entered Kyungsoo’s line of sight before he twitched, and their bodies were torn in half.

They were still alive when they stepped past them, gurgling as their fingers scraped the floor. The bowels of one of them tangled around Kyungsoo’s foot, but the other didn’t seem to notice, panicked giggles escaping him as he kept on walking, tearing more and more guts out of the screaming guard.

They door came off one of the hinges next to Kyungsoo, and the other’s head twitched to the side as his pitch-black eyes looked into the room. There was a moment of silence, before someone whimpered. Kyungsoo’s shoulders shook again, before the whimper turned into a scream of pain.

With each wet snap of bone, the scream grew weaker, until finally it stopped. Jongin closed his eyes as they passed the room. The pulling on his limbs had stopped by now, but Jongin kept walking. He didn’t dare do anything except obey.

They entered the next door. Kyungsoo’s giggles grew in intensity as he came to a halt in the middle of the room. In front of him stood a gurney, not unlike the one they had found on that first night, that first night that somehow lead to now.

Next to it was a table with a large box full of dials and buttons. Two cords sprouted from it, leading to two electrodes. The table also held a leather gag, like the bit for a horse. The tan leather was stained maroon at the corners.

Kyungsoo’s giggles returned to the shrill scream as he stared at the equipment in front of him, his entire body shaking.

In the blink of an eye, the whole thing crunched up into a ball the size of a football. Jongin flinched, taking a step back as he watched the metal grind against metal, sparks emitting from the thing as it was forced even tighter, even smaller.

When it hit the floor Kyungsoo wobbled, his giggles starting to sound exhausted. His head lolled back, as if he lacked the strength to hold it up. His upper body swayed forwards, and for a second Jongin through was passing out, before the unseen force caught him.

He slid forward, tips of his shoes leaving a trail of blood against the floor as he turned around and headed back out of the door. Jongin followed, because he knew he had to.

They passed yet another room where someone was hiding inside. Kyungsoo didn’t even bother opening the door. They were forced to listen to the desperate pounding of two people begging for their lives for a long minute before blood started to seep into the corridor from under the crack of the door.

Kyungsoo gave another weak giggle, and continued forward.

The corridor ended with another door, white and unassuming. It swung open before Kyungsoo, revealing a tiny room.

Inside the room was a simple bed, nothing more than a cot, along with a set of drawers. Nothing more, nothing less. Kyungsoo slowly sank down on his knees, head lolling forward. The set of drawers shook, one of the corners rising for a moment, before a small polaroid picture slid out from underneath it.

It sailed through the air until it landed in Kyungsoo’s lap. The giggling grew shrill again, his entire body shaking with the force of it. Jongin took a careful step forward, blood-soaked shoes squeaking against the floor.

Kyungsoo flinched, his body curling up tight for a second. His head slowly rolled back, looking up at Jongin. The bloody tear tracks were thick on his face, dripping into his mouth and down his neck as he stared at Jongin.

His shoulders shook with another shrill giggle, and suddenly Jongin realized.

He wasn’t laughing. He was crying. He had always been crying. He was still scared, terrified, his body shaking as though he was moments away from a seizure.

Jongin’s eyes shifted to the photograph in Kyungsoo’s hand. It was of a mother, still in the bed she gave birth in, and an infant in her arms. The infant had a tuft of pitch-black hair and a button nose.

“Is it over now?” Kyungsoo asked, a fresh wave of tears making their way down his cheeks. “Is it over now? Is it over now? Is it over now? Is it over now?”

He sank down on his knees next to Kyungsoo, laying a trembling hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Kyungsoo flinched, but nothing happened. No force pulling him away, no power shaking the room. Nothing. Just more tears.

  
“Is it over now?” Kyungsoo repeated. “I promised her it would be over. Is it over now? Is it over now?”

“Yes.” Jongin nodded. Kyungsoo’s head fell forward, landing on Jongin’s shoulders as he shook with sobs. “It’s over now. It’s all over now.”


	17. Epilogue

Jongin scanned the platform outside the window, following the slowly shuffling line of people out of the train. His legs were sore from the long journey, and he longed for the moment he could finally lay down in bed.

The scent of city air hit him the moment he stepped out of the train. He hadn’t realized how different the air was back at Gudong academy. Here, it almost felt as though you could taste it. He wished he had brought a face mask.

“Jongin!”

Jongin whipped around at the call of his name.

There, in the middle of the platform, stood Jonghyuk. There was a bright smile on his face, and Jongin couldn’t help but mirror it as he began running toward his brother.

With a laugh he threw himself in his arms, feeling his brother wrap himself tightly around him and squeeze. Jongin closed his eyes, and pushed back the wave of tears that seemed to always lurk under the surface.

He had spoken to his therapist about it. They had all been offered therapy after what had happened. Not that anyone truly knew what had happened except them. All everyone else knew was that there had been a horrific accident in the old factory, and that Jongin and his friends had been the ones to discover the bodies. His therapist had said that it was a normal response to react like that after a traumatic experience, and that he should allow himself to feel what he was feeling.

  
But not here, not right now. He could cry later. Now, he just wanted his brother.

“How are you?” Jonghyuk asked as they pulled apart. Without asking to, his older brother grabbed his luggage and started to pull it toward the exit.

“Good.” Jongin said with a nod, stubbornly wiping his tearing eyes. Jonghyuk sent him a soft smile, but thankfully didn’t comment on the tears. “You?”

  
“Oh, I’m good. A little busy lately, but you know how it is.” Jonghyuk let out a laugh, pointing Jongin in the direction of the exit nearest his car.

“They boss you around over Christmas as well?” Jongin asked, stopping in front of Jonghyuk’s car and watching his brother load his bag into the trunk.

“Nah, I just made sure to work extra hard so I could take time off for when my little Nini came to visit.” He replied, jumping into the car. Jongin followed, feeling a smile grow on his face. He hadn’t counting on having more than one or two whole days with his brother. To hear he had taken time off of work was probably the best Christmas present he could have gotten.

“Thank you.” He replied genuinely. Jonghyuk brushed his comment aside, saying something about how anyone would have done the same as the put the car into gear and drove off.

The drive back to Jonghyuk’s apartment wasn’t long, and the spent the whole of it in silence. Jongin liked the silence. He liked listening to it, liked the days when he couldn’t hear anything but silence in it.

It was harder at night, not to hear the phantom screams, not to hear Kyungsoo’s shrill crying, not to hear the repeated questions of _is it over_?

“How is he?” Jongin asked as the car came to a halt in the parking garage. Jonghyuk stilled for a moment, before he looked over at Jongin.

“Better. He got something for the seizures a week or so ago. He’s only had one since then.” Jonghyuk spoke, a sad smile playing on his lips. “The bruises have almost faded as well. He looks almost normal.”

Jongin nodded, feeling his stomach turn.

Today would be the first time he saw Kyungsoo since _that_ night almost a month ago. Kyungsoo had been exhausted once his eyes had returned to normal, barely able to move. Him and Minseok had had to carry him back to the school. Jonghyuk had been waiting for them, and when Jongin had explained to Kyungsoo he needed to go with Jonghyuk, the other had burst into tears again, clinging to Jongin and begging him not to leave him.

He had received updates from Jonghyuk since then. About the seizures, which were apparently related to his powers and not only the ECT he had received. About the nightmares and the fear. About the visit from another ‘Mr Kim’ a fortnight into Kyungsoo’s escape, where it had been revealed that as long as Kyungsoo behaved, they would let him stay. They had no need for him right now, and the program he had belonged to hadn’t been nearly as successful as it had to have been to warrant being reinstituted. An uncertain ‘safe, for now’ had hung over them since then.

But there had also been updates about Kyungsoo being curious about the world around him. Of him loving to sit on Jonghyuk tiny balcony and watch the people walking past on the busy street below. Of him cautiously coming to terms with the fact that he was allowed to be seen, and how Jonghyuk had heard him hold a tentative conversation with the old lady living next door while she watered her plants. Of him joining Jonghyuk by the couch whenever he was watching a show, especially if it involved baking or cooking.

“He’s excited to see you.” Jonghyuk said, shaking Jongin out of his thoughts. Jongin nodded, nerves still playing in his middle.

He still felt so guilty. Oh, so guilty. For what, he wasn’t quite sure. For everything he suspected. For forcing Jonghyuk to be a part of this. For making his friends go through the same trauma as him. For failing to save Kyungsoo. For not saving him earlier. For all the people Kyungsoo killed. For feeling guilty over seeing Kyungsoo get revenge on the people who tortured him for years. For Kyungsoo being tortured. For not trying harder.

But...as his therapist said, he had nothing to feel guilty for. Nothing had been his fault. No matter how much he believed they were. He repeated this for himself, quietly, as they step out of the car, and out into the elevator, and the entire ride up to the eight floor.

He still didn’t believe it when Jonghyuk put the key in the lock.

Slowly, the door swung open.

There were no one on the other side.

Jongin blinked, feeling disappointment fill him. Jonghyuk chuckled next to him and ruffled his hair.

  
“He’s shy. He’ll come when he feels ready for it.” He said as he hauled Jongin’s bag over the threshold. Jongin nodded, his hand coming up to scratch at the still healing burn on the back of his neck. As always, he tried not to think of the fact that the bulled had been millimetres from his skull when Kyungsoo had managed to stop it.

“Kyungsoo! We’re home! Jongin’s here!” Jonghyuk called. Jongin toed off his shoes, craning his neck to look deeper into the apartment. He could see the living room from where he was standing, but nothing else.

He slipped his feet into a pair of the slippers lined up in front of him and shuffled further into the flat.

There was a kitchen connected to the living room with plenty of counter space. Next to it was a small dining area, large enough to fit a table for four. Connected to it was the door to the balcony. Jongin walked up to it and poked his head out, half expecting Kyungsoo to sit there, curled up in his little arm chair and his collection of mugs strew about him.

It was empty save for a rickety set of outdoor table and chairs.

He turned back around, and came face to face with those round eyes.

Kyungsoo was standing in the opening to one of the bedrooms. He was wearing a large grey oversized hoodie, none of the edges frayed, and pyjama bottoms. He was wearing fluffy socks inside his slippers. The slippers were too large for his small feet.

His hair had grown longer, his bangs long enough to cover half of his forehead and the sides long enough to hide his temples completely. His cheeks were fuller, the hollowness gone, and his eyes were bright golden, alive. The only thing that spoke of what he had gone through, was the faint yellow bruising still around his neck.

“Jongin.” He said. His voice had recovered from the screaming. No longer hoarse, or raw. No longer pained.

Jongin felt tears well in his eyes, the memories of the blood soaked Kyungsoo he had seen a month ago flashing before his mind’s eye. He looked so different now. So, free.

Without a word he walked forward and wrapped his arms around the other. Kyungsoo froze for a second, before his arms slowly wrapped around Jongin as well. His body was warm, alive. He was alive, and he was doing better. He was safe.

Jongin hadn’t let him down. He hadn’t betrayed him. He had come when he needed, had been the friend Kyungsoo deserved. He hadn’t broken the trust between them, hadn’t allowed the prophecy to come true. He had broken it, before Kyungsoo permanently became a monster.

It was like a weight was lifted from his shoulders, the realization that this hadn’t been just another step in the self-fulfilling prophecy that was Kyungsoo’s monstrosity. His fate was something else, something more than what they had done to him in that factory, something more than what they thought.

The prophecy was over.

“It’s over.” Jongin whispered, feeling Kyungsoo bury his head in the crook of Jongin’s shoulder. “It’s over now.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you like this fic, please feel free to leave a comment telling me your thoughts, or some kudos of love!


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